How Do You Know?

[_anon_]

waheguru jee ka khalsa, waheguru jee kee fateh!!

I desperately want to understand Gurbani, was listening to this shabad. i wrote it down and tried to translate it and make some sense out of it. now ive just come on STTM and my translation is similar but there are some noticable differences. im gonna try n explain something.. heres the shabad i was reading

raamakalee mehalaa 5 ||

Raamkalee, Fifth Mehla:

birathhaa bharavaasaa lok ||

Reliance on mortal man is useless.

t(h)aakur prabh thaeree ttaek ||

O God, my Lord and Master, You are my only Support.

avar shhoottee sabh aas ||

I have discarded all other hopes.

achi(n)th t(h)aakur bhaettae gunathaas ||1||

I have met with my carefree Lord and Master, the treasure of virtue. ||1||

eaeko naam dhhiaae man maerae ||

Meditate on the Name of the Lord alone, O my mind.

kaaraj thaeraa hovai pooraa har har har gun gaae man maerae ||1|| rehaao ||

Your affairs shall be perfectly resolved; sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, Har, Har, Har, O my mind. ||1||Pause||

thum hee kaaran karan ||

You are the Doer, the Cause of causes.

charan kamal har saran ||

Your lotus feet, Lord, are my Sanctuary.

man than har ouhee dhhiaaeiaa ||

I meditate on the Lord in my mind and body.

aana(n)dh har roop dhikhaaeiaa ||2||

The blissful Lord has revealed His form to me. ||2||

this hee kee outt sadheev ||

I seek His eternal support;

jaa kae keenae hai jeev ||

He is the Creator of all beings.

simarath har karath nidhhaan ||

Remembering the Lord in meditation, the treasure is obtained.

raakhanehaar nidhaan ||3||

At the very last instant, He shall be your Savior. ||3||

sarab kee raen hoveejai ||

Be the dust of all men's feet.

aap mittaae mileejai ||

Eradicate self-conceit, and merge in the Lord.

anadhin dhhiaaeeai naam ||

Night and day, meditate on the Naam, the Name of the Lord.

safal naanak eihu kaam ||4||33||44||

O Nanak, this is the most rewarding activity. ||4||33||44||

ive got questions about the bits in red...how do you know that waheguru is being described as achinth and anand?? how do you know that maharaaj isnt saying tht that is the state of mind of the devotee???

then the translation has got 'at the very last instant'...wheere did they get that from?? rakanhaar means the one who saves you and nidhaan is the treasure, or the place where u get sukh from?? so where did they get at the last instant???

am i wrong because i dont understand the grammar of gurbani??

what am i missing in this shabad?

thanks, sorry if this doesnt make sense

waheguru jee ka khalsa, waheguru jee kee fateh!!

[lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

I think if you asked this on the Tapoban forum you would get more reliable answers. Kulbir Singh can tell you more about the grammar of this particular shabad - I've misplaced the sheets he gave me.

ਅਚਿੰਤ ਠਾਕੁਰ ਭੇਟੇ ਗੁਣਤਾਸ ॥੧॥

ਠਾਕੁਰ means Lord Master, so ਅਚਿੰਤ is referring to that.

ਆਨੰਦ ਹਰਿ ਰੂਪ ਦਿਖਾਇਆ ॥੨॥

I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the order of the three words (ਆਨੰਦ ਹਰਿ ਰੂਪ ) and also the vowels (no onkar underneath anand or har). If I find my worksheets I'll let you know. It's saying that 'Hari da Roop' is blissful.

ਰਾਖਨਹਾਰ ਨਿਦਾਨ ॥੩॥

As akirtghan would say, STTM is not 100% reliable. Considering that there's no mention of time in this line, I'd say that the translation is misleading.

Hope this helps a little.

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

[Akaali]

Welcome back! :D

[lowest of the low singhni]

:D Thanks. Shame about akirtghan though.

[Akaali]

I know, hopefully he'll realize he's missing out on sangat, and that without sangat we're nothing, whether its gursangat or cyber sangat, its all meant to connect us to akaal purkh, there's so much I can write about benefits of sangat in its various forms but I'll save it

gurparsaaad

[lowest of the low singhni]

Indeed.

Btw anon - just to add to what I said before. Rarely does Gurbani only have one meaning, it strikes a different chord for everyone. What I interpret and what you interpret might be different, but that doesn't mean that either one of us intrinsically wrong. It's possible to talk for hours on a single line. Unfortunately for someone like me, understanding Gurbani is like looking through a keyhole. I only see a limited amount, but there's so much more beyond the door. Breaking down the door is what we should aim for - opening our minds up - beginning with small steps, small cracks in the wood.

[ISingh]

Vaheguroo Jee Ka Khalsaa! Vaheguroo Jee Ki Fatheh!

ਰਾਖਨਹਾਰ ਨਿਦਾਨ ॥੩॥

According to Prof. Sahib Singh's Teeka, ਨਿਦਾਨ in this context is given as ਓੜਕ ਨੂੰ. If you further do a search on ਓੜਕ using the dictionary facility on Srigranth.org, this translates to ਅਖ਼ੀਰ or ਅੰਤ literally meaning 'in the end' or 'at last'. The annotation for this tukk is given as:

ਹੇ ਮਨ! (ਜਦੋਂ ਹੋਰ ਸਾਰੇ ਸਹਾਰੇ ਮੁੱਕ ਜਾਣ, ਤਾਂ) ਅੰਤ ਨੂੰ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਹੀ ਰੱਖਿਆ ਕਰ ਸਕਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਹੈ।੩।

With the very little understanding Guru Sahib has bestowed in my mind, this translates to:

O mind! Whatever support/guidance you may seek, it will all finish/come to an end eventually as anything else in this world. In the end, God will be our only Saviour.

If my interpretations and understanding are out of line, please do correct them!!!. Like Bhenji has said, English translations can be misleading and only really give the surface meaning. This is just one tukk, and we're like a million lifetimes behind!!!!!

Bhul chukh maaf.

Vaheguroo Jee Ka Khalsaa! Vaheguroo Jee Ki Fatheh!

[Akaali]

Thanks veerjee, I hope you can post more in this vichaar section, bhul chuk muaf.