Japji Sahib – 1st Pauree

1st Pauree

The total knowledge of God and ecstasy is contained in this pauree. It is an antidote to depression. It will lift you from the deepest depression, insecurity, nightmares, and loss, and bring contentment.

~ excerpted from the Psyche of the Golden Shield as compiled by BibiJi Inderjit Kaur Khalsa

 

*artwork by Sewa Singh Khalsa (sikhphotos.com)

 

The following is excerpted from the book Guru Nanak’s Call of the Soul: Japji Sahib:

In this opening pauree of Japji Sahib, Guru Nanak makes a very clear distinction between thinking, or the intellectual process of spiritual awareness, and the actual experience of it. The full potential of Japji Sahib lies in the reciting aloud of these sounds and the experience that creates within, not in the intellectual analysis of the meanings of the words. Guru Nanak tells us that by thinking and thinking, we get nowhere. It is not going to do us any good.

Thinking is an intellectual mode, and the conception of the One is not achieved through the intellect; it is experienced through the entire sensory being.

In the words of Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan, “Your brain releases one thousand thoughts per wink of the eye. This is called intellect, intellect releases thought whether you like it or not. So long as you are alive, you will breathe and intellect will release thoughts. These two faculties are human faculties. So when you think, what are you thinking for? What happens is those thoughts become feelings, some of those thoughts, but not all… pass away. Some become feelings, some become emotions, some become desires and then you fulfill a desire and then there is another desire, then another desire, another fulfillment, another fulfillment. The idiot wastes his time because he is caught by the process of the intellect and not by the virtue of the intelligence. Intelligence sits still and the world shall come to you. Sochai, soch na hova-ee, jay sochee lakh vaar” (January 16, 1990).

We can become very learned from our intellect, gain great depths from our meditative practice, and amass a great amount of worldly things, but Guru Nanak reminds us that not even one of these things will go with us with when we die. So what should we do, asks Nanak? He tells us to abandon our ego, and obey the Hukam, the natural order of the universe, the Will of God.

The Siri Singh Sahib elaborates on this idea: “How we can become the living truth? Such a living truth, how can we become the living truth? Kiv sachiaaraa hoee-ai. Kiv koorai tuttai paal. How can the wall of this falsehood break? How we can see through it, how? Hukam rajaayee chalnaa naanak likhiaa naal . . . ‘I am happy and pleased God in Thy Will, it is either this way or that way.’ If you want me to be a great yogi I am a great yogi. If you want me to be a nobody, I am a nobody. But I belong to thee… Bad and good I belong to you Lord, I belong to You” (October 6, 2000).

In the last line of the first pauree Guru Nanak tells us a cosmic Truth for the first of many times in the Japji Sahib; that the path to achieve the experience of consciousness is to understand that your destiny is the Will of the Divine.

 

Musical Recitations

Enjoy these beautiful musical recitations of the 1st Pauree, available to stream on the SikhNet Gurbani Media Center:

Mata Mandir Singh – Sochai Soch Na Hovaee

Wahe Guru Kaur (WAH!) – Sochai Soch (includes Gurmukhi and English) 

Pavan Kaur – El Uno (Sochai Soch Na Hovaee) 

 

1st Pauree

Sochai soch na hova-ee jay sochee lakh vaar.

Chupai chup na hova-ee jay laaye rahaa liv taar.

Bhukhiaa bhukh na utree jay banna pureeaa bhaar.

Sahas siaannpaa lakh hoeh ta ik na chalai naal.

Kiv sachiaaraa hoeeai kiv koorrai tuttai paal.

Hukam rajaa-ee chalnnaa Naanak likhiaa naal. ||1||

 

By thinking, the True One cannot be reduced to thought,

even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.

By remaining silent, inner silence is not obtained,

even by remaining lovingly absorbed deep within.

The hunger of the hungry is not appeased,

even by piling up loads of worldly goods.

There are hundreds of thousands of clever tricks,

but not even one of them will go along with you in the end.

So how can you become truthful,

and how can the veil of illusion be torn away?

O Nanak, it is written that you shall obey the Command of the True One,

and walk in the way of the Divine Will.

 


Need to practice your pronunciation of Japji Sahib?

One of the best ways to learn how to recite Japji is to listen to and read along with someone else reciting it.

To help with that, we have a FREE Japji for the Aquarian Age App for IOS and Android.  Once you download it, you can use it to recite the complete Japji Sahib in your daily practice, or you can choose the “Repeat Paurees” feature and follow along with the recitation of each section of Japji Sahib.

A special 40 week practice of reciting Japji Sahib is to recite one section 11x a day for one week and then do the same for the next section and so on, until over 40 weeks, you’ve completed a practice of reciting each of the 40 sections of Japji Sahib 11x a day for a week.

Here are instructions for downloading the Japji for the Aquarian Age App


In Guru Nanak’s Call of the Soul: Japji Sahib, by Gurutej Singh Khalsa with Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Based on the teachings of Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan:

In Japji Sahib, Guru Nanak touches the deepest essence of individual consciousness, elevating one to the universal consciousness. Japji is made up of 40 remarkable segments where Guru Nanak not only explains the mysteries of the cosmos, but also gives us spiritual instruction that we can follow to achieve the same experience of higher consciousness that Guru Nanak embodied. In this book the Mul Mantra and each of the 38 paurees of Japji, plus the Slok, are explained from a spiritual as well as historical perspective, enhanced by the teachings of Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan. It is our sincere prayer that this book will open up to you the miraculous wonder of Japji Sahib.

194 pages including an in-depth exploration of the 40 sections of Japji Sahib, 48 full color illustrations, 15 meditations that enhance the effects of the pauris, pronunciation guide and glossary and a foreword by Bhai Sahiba, Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, PhD. Includes beautiful full-color paintings by Sewa Singh and Sewa Kaur.

Visit our Marketplace if you are interested in purchasing this book.


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  1. Prof. Tariq A. Shah says:

    One of the thematic and thought-provoking explanation of Japji Sahib. It has added a lot to my knowledge regarding this sacred treatise.

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