Explanation of the Name of my Blog

The title of this blog is a run-together set of Gurmukhi words, namely;

mn jIqY jg jIq

The transliteration for this Gurmukhi expression is "Man Jeetai Jag Jeet."

This phrase basically means that if you win mastery over your mind, the world of this life shall also be mastered. This is very much an Eastern concept. This particular phrase is of Sikh origin. In this view, we can not directly experience ourselves as expressions of the One Divinity unless and until we can learn to quiet our minds and learn to no longer be caught up with human desires. Nonattachment is another, more common name for this goal. In this view as well as in Buddhism, attachments are the source of all human suffering. Essentially attachment means to want things to be different than they are at the moment. It means to want things that feel good or make us happy to last longer and for things we do not enjoy to end sooner. Learning to conquer such desires and learning to accept and appreciate everything that comes is the pathway intended here.

This Gurmukhi phrase comes from the most fundamental of Sikh "prayers" - called "JapJi." JapJi is to be recited first thing every morning. It is a 20 minute long recitation written by the first of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Naanak. "Jap" means to meditate and reflect upon while "Ji" means "Soul." So the name "JapJi" is an exhortation to meditate over this 20 minute recitation.

A good description of what JapJi is all about would take some serious concentrated effort, for it progresses through several phases in its 40 "stanzas." Briefly though, JapJi could be said to be about how to live a spiritual life and tells about stages and kinds of spiritual attainment. It is also an expansive treatise on the unlimited, indescribable and undefinable, infinite qualities of the (One and only) Creative Divine aspect of the universe. Most of all, JapJi sings the praises of this Creative Divinity, of which we are ourselves expressions or manifestations. In the west we call this "God"and tend to personify it as an entity or being. In the East there are many words that when translated into English are written as "God." I might at some later time, write a separate blog entry listing many such words and discussing them.