[salok] Bhagat Kabeer Jeo Kae

[lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

ਕਬੀਰ ਨਉਬਤਿ ਆਪਨੀ ਦਿਨ ਦਸ ਲੇਹੁ ਬਜਾਇ ॥

Kabīr na­ubaṯ āpnī ḏin ḏas lėho bajā­ė.

Kabeer, take your drum and beat it for ten days.

ਨਦੀ ਨਾਵ ਸੰਜੋਗ ਜਿਉ ਬਹੁਰਿ ਨ ਮਿਲਹੈ ਆਇ ॥੮੦॥

Naḏī nāv sanjog ji­o bahur na milhai ā­ė.

Life is like people meeting on a boat on a river; they shall not meet again.

ਨਉਬਤਿ = drum; ਆਪਨੀ = your; ਦਿਨ = day; ਦਸ = 10; ਲੇਹੁ = take ਬਜਾਇ = play, sound; ਨਦੀ = river; ਨਾਵ = boat; ਸੰਜੋਗ = association, meeting, union; ਬਹੁਰਿ = fer, again, in the future; ਮਿਲਹੈ = meet.

This follows on from the last Salok. The drum metaphor in the first line could mean many things but I'll stick with just one (or maybe two) ideas for the moment. Bhagat Kabeer Ji could be describing himself - as he writes these Saloks he is telling people about the facts of the universe and the purpose of our existence, just like a herald would beat on a drum or blow on a trumpet to spread important news. Alternatively Bhagat Ji could be using the idea of a drum to describe our short lifespan and all the materialistic things in the world which occupy our minds most of the time. Sometimes in rensabais or smagams there are some really enthusiastic/built-up tabla players who, no matter how hard they play, can't seem to get enough out of the tabla. Eventually the tabla gives in and the skin part (sorry I don't know what it's called) will break. If anyone has ever tried playing a ruptured tabla they will know that it's useless - the sound, if it can be called that, is pathetic.

(Disclaimer: I am in no way attacking enthusiastic tabla players and no I am not talking from experience with respect to breaking the tabla.)

When we're in this world the distractions and pleasures around us look/feel/sound wonderful. But even if we made an exhaustive list of them and indulged in every single one, Gurbani tells us that true satisfaction wouldn't be found. Once the drum is beaten there's no joy in playing it anymore and it doesn't sound nice. Once our lifetime is up there won't be any pleasure to be had from accumulating wealth, property, friends, children or even ratings on SS.

So if we want to act on this fact, we have some options. Some people will go into mountains and forests and try to reach God by cutting themselves off from the world. Guru Saheb told us ਕਾਹੇ ਰੇ ਬਨ ਖੋਜਨ ਜਾਈ ॥ (Why do you go looking for him in the forest?).. instead a more direct method would be integrate our Rehat and spirituality into every aspect of the life that we are now living. Make your life worth living and make your Guru proud of his sons/daughters. If you happen to get married or have children, also teach them how to be little Khalsas.

Remember that even though Guru Saheb has given us different options than other people, we have never been taught to look down upon or attack others for having different ideas of how to reach maximum spritual potential. We have never been taught to use Gurbani as a means of enforcing our beliefs on others and as a community we should try to be more welcoming to others with open arms, as our beautiful Guru Saheb is. It might also do us well to remember that the power and glory of Guru Saheb's Hukam is beyond anything we ourselves could ever do. Guru Ji might command some people to live part of their lives in seclusion as a way of preparing them for the greatness that lies ahead for them in this world and the next. When we hear about these people it's important (for even our own sake) to open our minds to the bigger picture instead of immediately condemning those souls and their actions.

Digressiontothemax.

In the second line of the Salok Bhagat Ji reminds us once again of how this life is like travelling on a long river. As we go by we meet other people on other boats, some are going in our direction and some aren't, but nevertheless once everyone's journey is complete they are destined to depart from each other. In life we'll meet many people in person, we'll hear about many people in the news, and we'll come in contact with many others online. It's in our best interests to remember that no matter how close we feel to some people, they won't be with us for eternity. If we keep this in mind, we can never become too attached or too angry or too affected by the words or actions of others. Things like that are probably a learning experience in life which we can all relate to, but I'm sure everybody would agree that sometimes too many issues like this can take over things which should be our main focus as ambassadors of our King.

I think I'll stop there before everyone goes cross-eyed. (Also my tummy is rumbling and instead of thinking about how distracted I get by hunger I'm going to take as a sign from Guru Saheb that I should stop typing rubbish.)

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

[*gupt-kaur*]

vaahegurooo! penje!! that was lovelyyyyyyyyy, and no way.... ur not typing rubbish, loved it!! :WW:

[Amrit Kaur Khalsa]

:WW: Ur not typing rubbish - that's my job

[lowest of the low singhni]

Well I wouldn't want to steal anyone's job : )

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

[Laadli Fauj]

awesome vichaar bhenji

export some gian to the Bay! our youth needs it

or jus PM it to me

[_anon_]

vaheguruuu

Kabeer, take your drum and beat it for ten days.

i may be looking into this too much, but is there any significance to beating the drum for ten days?

could it suggest a great length of time, because we basically dont listen and act upon what we're told straight away, so we need to be told repeatedly.

Guru Ji might command some people to live part of their lives in seclusion as a way of preparing them for the greatness that lies ahead for them in this world and the next.

could you expand upon this please?

[Surinderjit]

Kabeer, take your drum and beat it for ten days.

i may be looking into this too much, but is there any significance to beating the drum for ten days?

could it suggest a great length of time, because we basically dont listen and act upon what we're told straight away, so we need to be told repeatedly.

Theres actually a tabla ritual where u sit down and play the tabla contiously for 10 days... soems rot of spiritual thing in some parts of India i think.. or so i read on the album "tal matrix"

[Singhballer]

If you were to play the Tabla for 10 continous days... that would be doubling the current World record

[lowest of the low singhni]

The following is being posted on behalf of a certain tall smiling friend. It would be great if anyone could address the issue. (Unfortunately I'm not allowed to edit it.)

"Though the frequency of her threads in GV section has gone down recently but we get yet another good/simple explaination by mod sahiba lotls. What i am about to ask isn't really of much importance as the message given to us by Bhagat Kabeer Ji remains unaltered.

ਨਦੀ ਨਾਵ ਸੰਜੋਗ ਜਿਉ ਬਹੁਰਿ ਨ ਮਿਲਹੈ ਆਇ ॥੮੦॥

Life is like people meeting on a boat on a river; they shall not meet again.

In the above tuk the first three words 'ਨਦੀ ਨਾਵ ਸੰਜੋਗ ' to me mean union/association/milaap/meeting of the boat and the river but the english translation suggests otherwise. It says 'people meeting on a boat on a river'. I wasn't sure if i was convinced with that meaning so i refered to Prof. Sahib Singh's teeka and i found an explaination similar to the english translation. As i mentioned before

My problemo here is that i don't seem to find 'people' mentioned in the 2nd tuk. So it would be great if any 'siana sajjan' could please fill me in on what i am missing. Is the grammar/viakaran doing the trick in the above tuk??

ps: She is gonna say this post was made by 'someone talllllll', don't believe her "