Favorites (1) Naanak Nadaree Karamee Daat

nwnk ndrI krmI dwq

Gurbani is the name we give for words written by the Sikh Gurus. Bani means "word" and the "Gur" prefix makes it mean "Words of the Guru."

Gurmukhi is the name given to the written script form of this language. The language itself is an older form of Punjabi (from Nothern India) which was in use 300 to 500 years ago. The first Sikh Guru, Guru Naanak, began doing a great deal of inspired and inspirational singing and teaching around the year 1500, when he was near the age of 30.

My memory is not terribly clear about the order in which I discovered my favorite lines or phrases of Gurbani that really moved me or which I related to immediately. Some of them I do remember very well and what order they came in. I do know that the first phrase I remember really resonating with was this one;

nwnk ndrI krmI dwq

The transliteration for this phrase is "Naanak nadaree karamee daat." Naanak is the first Sikh Guru. Nadaree means "Gracious or merciful Glance (of God). Karamee is a word for action, for the doing of something, and Daat means gifts. In the Guru, "Gifts" usually mean great gifts- great blessings. So this phrase means something like this: "Naanak says" that through the merciful glance (of God) great gifts are given."

This particular line - and also the URL name of my blog - occurs in JapJi - the morning "prayer" by Guru Naanak, which is commonly called "The Song of the Soul." I am not sure if I encountered it first in JapJi, but I think probably I found it somewhere else first during the course of my solitary studies of Sikhism online.

The very first time I heard this line it felt precisely like a description or explanation of my own experiences with Sikhism. By the time I came across this line, which must have been some months after all this started; I was experiencing the tearful bliss regularly during my meditation and while listening to Gurbani Kirtan (chanting). I was at peace inside myself like I had never been before. There were challenges and some tumultuous feelings in my outer life, but inside none of that changed the immense happiness I could experience almost anytime I listened to Gurbani being sung or read.

I felt then and I still feel that I had done little to deserve what had happened to me, yet this compassion had been implanted in me and I had been brought to this very joyful sikh path all seemingly by a lucky "accident" of someone happening to play that Shanti CD during my massage. So to me, it truly was as though the "Gracious glance of God" had been cast my way, and I then had the visions and came to the Sikh Gurdwara. My entire life was changed by those events and I had not even been seeking a spiritual path before all this happened. I still feel that this line more than any other describes the great good fortune that came my way.

Recently - only a few months ago, I took a hukam and in that hukam there was a line that said, "You reached down with Your long arm and pulled me up from the suffering of my life." I do not have the exact words nor the Gurmukhi for this - but I cried as I read this because it again describes the feelings I have about the way I came to this path. I had a beautiful vision relating to this the next day in my meditation, in which I saw myself grasped by this strong arm and pulled up and out of this life. I clasped my arms around the legs of this Gur/Savior, and held tightly while crying with gratitude. I remember asking if I could stay where I was and not return to my life on Earth, and was told I was to return and yet that I would always remain at the Guru's feet as I was at that moment. This brought a great wave of peace to me.

The link immediately below takes you to a very beautiful page about Sikh thoughts and perspectives about "Grace" - how it is obtained, and many lines of Gurbani are quoted and translated on that page. I found it by googling "Nadaree."

IF you want greater insight about this "Merciful Glance of God" this page will help a lot!

http://www.gurbani.org/webart154.htm