“The twenty-eighth Paurī is the strongest permutation and combination of words in the world. It unites you with God.”
~ from the teachings of the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan (1)
Reflections on the 28th Pauree from the Siri Singh Sahib, drawn from a lecture given at Khalsa Women’s Camp (2):
This Pauri from Jap Jī is very important. Mundā santokh, tolerance and unlimited patience, is the highest power you can have. Mundā are the earrings, which yogīs wear in the solar center to denounce the world. It is the sun meridian point: this little lobe represents your head with the central part of your intelligence in the center. When it is pierced, intelligence is denounced. It can seal up again, but the nerve is gone. Yogīs do it. With the extreme patience it takes to wear the mundā, you declare your tolerance; you are absolutely calm, quiet and peaceful. You have denounced your own ego, your own intelligence.
Saram pat jholī, a bag hanging in front is a jholī. Saram means very conscious about it. You have the deepest, the highest commitment and it is conscious, it is the jholī. You haven’t been forced or told by somebody. It is not a fake or fashion. It is your highest commitment.
Dhi-ān kī karah(i) bibhūt. You have penetrated meditation. You are highly, totally completely intuitive.
Khinthā kāl ku-ārī kā-i-ā. Khinthā are the two sheets worn underneath and over to cover your entire body. Nobody can take it off. Khinthā is kāl or death. Your body is standing against that cover of death. Khinthā kāl is the death cover around your body. Your body cannot die, if your Radiant Body is not weak. So long as your Radiant Tenth Body is in this perfect alignment with you, the Prānic energy can continue.
Jugat ḏanḏā paratīt. Jugat is the technology and method of life. Jag means world and jugatī the technology to deal with the world. Jugat means you have mastered that. Danḏī swamīs give the scepter to kings. Danḏā means this scepter.
Ā-ī panthī is a yogic sect, who believe in the manifestation of God. They are very powerful, humble and highly intuitive, knowing people. Panthī means the path. Sagal jamātī, all classes have a direct communication with God.
Man jītai jag jīt. If you win over your own mind, you will win the whole world. But, first, how do you win the mind? One is a path of Bhaktī or devotion where you give your mind to the Gurū, take the words of the Gurū and proceed. You don’t use your own intellect and intelligence. When you want to sell yourself, you can’t win your mind. When you are on sale, there is a bargain. Life is a business. Sometimes you sell yourself. You go for an interview and especially dress up. You want to look so that they will hire you, though after a week, they will be sorry. But at that moment you want to convince the world that you are the best.
God said, “You have to conquer it. It is your mind. I gave it to you. Keep it as yours.” Nānak says, man jītai jag jīt. This means if you can keep your mind as yours alone, the universe will serve you: one hundred and eight Elements, five Tattvas, three Gunas, and the Ten Bodies.
Bibliography
(1) Yogi Bhajan, The Aquarian Teacher, 80
(2) The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, July 7, 1991
*This article was originally shared in a 40-Day Japji Sadhana hosted by Sikh Dharma International in partnership with other legacy organizations.
In the late 1960’s, the West was going through a revolution of consciousness. The young people of the time had a longing to touch Divinity. As their prayer went out to the Universe, an Indian Kundalini Yoga master named Harbhajan Singh Puri answered the call. This yoga master, who would come to be known as “Yogi Bhajan”, traveled to the West in 1968. For the first time in recorded history, he openly taught Kundalini Yoga – a very old and sacred science for awakening God-consciousness within the individual. He often said that he had come to the West “to create teachers, not to gain students.”
Yogi Bhajan was not only a master of Kundalini Yoga. He was also a Sikh. As thousands of people flocked to study yoga with him, a smaller group of his students became fascinated by the Sikh tradition. One by one, through his inspiration and example, they began to adopt the Sikh way of life – Sikh Dharma.
Through his personal efforts, Sikh Dharma was officially recognized as a religion in the USA in 1971. In 1971, in acknowledgement of his extraordinary impact of spreading the universal message of Sikh Dharma, the president of the SGPC (the governing body of Sikh Temples in India), Sant Chanan Singh called him the Siri Singh Sahib, Chief Religious and Administrative Authority for the Western Hemisphere. He was given the responsibility to create a Sikh Ministry in the West by the Akal Takhat, the Sikh seat of religious authority in Amritsar, India. He was honored with the title Bhai Sahib by the Akal Takhat in 1974.
Founded in compassion, and a commitment to sharing teachings that would help free people from their pain and confusion, Yogi Bhajan built his mission for nearly 40 years. Under his spiritual guidance, ashrams, yoga centers, Gurdwaras and communities sprang up all over the world. He was also a pioneer in the interfaith movement and a friend and mentor to public leaders everywhere.
From 1968 until his death on October 6, 2004, Yogi Bhajan traveled, taught, and inspired millions around the world. His work had such far-reaching impact that after his death, a special bipartisan Joint Resolution was issued by the United States Congress honoring his life and work. He taught that God lives in everyone and everything. And that to experience the Divine is the privilege, right and ultimate aim of each human life.
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