First Gurbani Words

The first time I paid any attention or had any real curiosity about any Gurbani words was when I went to the sikh Gurdwara for the first time and listened to Snatam Kaur take a random reading from the Sikh's most sacred book, "The Guru" (Siri Guru Granth Sahib). This was on April 15, 2004, and was actually a few days before the life-changing "vision" which I mentioned as the explanation for my choice of blog title. Such a random reading from the Sikh "Guru" is called a "Hukam" which means Divine Will or command. A Hukam can be interpretted as guidance for the day or as a key to understanding current events in one's life, an answer to a question in one's mind, or simply as inspiration for the day. Of course, I did not know what a Hukam was at that time, I had merely been invited to go into the Guru's room with Snatam Kaur and Guru Hari Singh for a short "ceremony."

Snatam took the Hukam in the way that is standard for those who can read Gurmukhi script; reading first the Gurmukhi and then following that with the English translation which is also written in some versions of the Guru. A number of phrases in the English translation of my first Hukam struck me intensely right away. Even the first words of that Hukam, "My eyes are wet with the nectar of the Lord" described the blissful and teary-eyed experiences I had been having while listening to sikh chanting during the previous month.

But there was another line that especially caught my attention; "Those who die while yet alive, are said to be Jeevan Mukhta" (depending on the translation - another version says "He who can experience death while still alive is known as Jeevan Mukhta.")

Since I had already been wondering about the possibility of my death being imminent because of other visions a month before, this sentence really sounded ominous to me.

The Gurmukhi for this line looks like this; (For those of you familiar with Gurmukhi, I took this version from Aasa Di Vaar instead of from the precise place the Hukam is found in the Guru - because the latter might have taken me a while to locate).

jIvn mukiq so AwkIAih mir

jIvY mrIAw

So the words "Jeevan Mukhta"

jIvn mKqw

became a very early object of my study because I wanted to understand what this Sikh "Guru" was saying about life and death. With a lot of study over some months, if not a full year, - (while going through many many other topics as well), I came to understand that becoming Jeevan Mukhta is one way of describing a Sikhs goal in life. One way to describe the kind of death being spoken of here is to call it an "ego death." This phrase is a little more common in the West. The Sikh's mean death to all attachments, death to all attachment to human desires. This does not mean taking no pleasures in life, but it means to not seek pleasures and not to expend effort to attain one's desires, and to not try to sustain or maintain whatever pleasures might come one's way. This then comes to much the same thing as what is meant by the title of my blog: "man jeetai jag jeet" - conquer your mind to conquer the challenges of this life.

This understanding of Jeevan Mukta also gave me a way of understanding the message of my "big vision" a different way. Rather than taking "Say goodbye to all you know and love" to mean I was going to die, it could mean to learn to practice detachment and thus change entirely the way you live life; say goodbye to a life of secular interests and desires. This made sense to me and it was consistant with another aspect of my life following that vision. After that vision I found myself satiated by just meditating and listening to Gurbani chanting. I found that I had very little desire to go looking for entertainment or things to do "for fun." Friends even had trouble talking me into going to the coast for a day trip. I was already happy just being immersed in my studies and meditation practice.