Jap Ji for kids
There are 38 pauris or rungs on the ladder of perfection. A translation of the first hymn in the Guru Granth Sahib follows below.
1 All Is Reality. Name. Creative Being. No Fear. No Hatred. Form of the Formless. Beyond the cycle of living and dying. Self-Power. Grace. Affirm. Reality at the beginning, Reality through space-time, Reality here-now, Reality for all space-time. 1.
By thinking, Reality cannot be reduced to the atoms of our mind, even if we think hundreds of thousands of times. Even if we remain lovingly absorbed deep within, by remaining silent the chatter of the mind does not cease. The action of consuming the goods of the world does not satisfy our hunger for Reality. Not even one of hundreds of thousands of ritualistic practices and sacrifices will go along with you. How to be Real? How to break the dam that collects waste in your life? Follow the safe passage of the Will that is written in your being, says Nanak.1.
Will is the source of creation; Will cannot be reduced to words; Will creates beings; Will gives us greatness; Will makes some high, others low; according to the letter of the Law pain and pleasure are distributed; by Will some are shown mercy; by Will others always wander; all are subject to the Will, no one is excluded. Says Nanak, when one flows with the Will the dam of am-I-ness is no more.2.
Some sing of power — how can one have power? Recognising the signs, some sing of gifts. Some sing of virtues, greatness and beauty. Some sing of knowledge and dialogues. Some sing that the body is made, and reduced it to dust. Some sing that being is taken away, and then restored. Some sing that people affirm seeing Reality far away. Some sing of seeing the realisation of the Presence that we are in. There are lots who preach and teach. Millions teach sermons of stories. The Giver gives and keeps of giving; the receivers tire — through all space-time consumers consume. The Willer, through Will, leads us to follow the Way. Says Nanak, Will blossoms, free from care and bother. 3.
Reality is the Master, Reality the Name — speak it with unconditional love. People pray and beg for gifts and the Giver gives. What can we offer the Giver so we can see the Court? What can we say so the Universe will love us after hearing it? Drink the elixir of life by bearing witness to the Name. Through past actions we get the robe of this physical body, but only through Grace, do we find the gate. Says Nanak, know this: everything = 1. 4.
Reality cannot be installed as a statue, nor created. Itself It is immaculate and pure. The servants of Reality are honoured. Says Nanak, sing of the treasure of excellences. Singing and listening let your being flow, blend and fill with Love. Pain will go far away and happiness arrive. Face the Guru, the sound-current of the universe. Face the Guru, the essence of wisdom of holy books. Face the Guru, the All-Pervasive. The Guru is the Destroyer, Preserver and Creator of the universe, source of Wisdom and Abundance. Knowing Reality, I cannot describe it; it cannot be contained in words. 1 Guru has given me this understanding: there is 1 Donor, I should bear witness to It. 5.
If I please the Universe, then this is my pilgrimage and bath of purification. Without giving such pleasure, what good are rituals to purify me? I gaze upon all beings: without the karma of good actions, what are they given to receive? If you listen to the 1 Guru you will find that within us are jewels, rubies and diamonds. 1 Guru has given me this understanding: there is 1 Donor, I should bear witness to It. 6.
Even if somone could live through the four ages — of gold, silver, bronze and iron, or even ten times more; if they were known throughout the continents of Earth and followed by all, with good name and reputation, praise and fame all over the world — still, if they do not receive the Glance of Grace, then who cares? What is the use? They would be considered a worm among worms, and even the most contemptible sinners would hold them in contempt. Says Nanak, the Beyond Value creates value, giving those with none some qualities, and those with some, even more. It is impossible to imagine any to give value to the Beyond Value. 7.
Listening, the spiritual masters of Buddhism, Islam and Yoga. Listening, Earth and its support system. Listening, oceans and lands of this and other worlds. Listening, death cannot even touch you. Says Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss as by listening pain and sin are erased. 8.
Listening, Shiva, Brahma and Indra. Listening, one can achieve good things in spite of one’s past. Listening, one achieves knowledge of Yoga and the mysteries of the body. Listening, one understands Hindu Shastras, Simrities and Vedas. Says Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss as by listening pain and sin are erased. 9.
By listening one achieves truth, contentment and spiritual wisdom. Listening is equivalent to purify oneself at every place of pilgrimage. By listening to the Sabd read from the heart, and reciting, honor is obtained. Listening is to intuitively grasp the essence of meditation. Says Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss as by listening pain and sin are erased. 10.
Listening is to dive deep into the Ocean of Virtue. Listening, the Shaikhs, emperors among Muslim mystics. By listening even the blind find the Path. By listening the Unreachable comes within your grasp. Says Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss as by listening pain and sin are erased. 11.
The state of the Real-ised Follower cannot be described. One who tries to describe this shall regret the attempt. No paper, no pen, no scribe can record the state of the Real-ised. Such is the glory of the Name. Only one who has Realisation comes to have the experience. 12.
The Real-ised have intuitive awareness and intelligence. The Real-ised know about all worlds and realms. The Real-ised shall never be struck across the face by the blows of bad karma. The Real-ised do not have to go with the messengers of death and rebirth. Such is the glory of the Name. Only one who has Realisation comes to have the experience. 13.
The way of the Real-isers is unblocked. The Real-ised shall depart with honor and fame. The Real-isers do not follow the religious rituals and traditions of sectarian belief systems. The Real-isers are firmly bound to the Real, the Right. Such is the glory of the Name. Only one who has Realisation comes to have the experience. 14.
The Real-isers find the door of freedom from the cycle of rebirth. The Real-isers inspire and redeem their family. The Real-iser is carried across the ocean of life with the Sikhs of the Guru. The Real-iser, says Nanak, does not wander around begging. Such is the glory of the Name. Only one who has Realisation comes to have the experience. 15.
The chosen ones, self-fulfilling, are accepted and their approved entry. The chosen ones are honored in the court. The chosen ones look beautiful in the royal court. The chosen ones give thought only to the 1 Guru. The actions of the Doer cannot be summed up however much someone tries to discuss them. Convention says that the bull that patiently holds the world upright is righteouness, the son of compassion. One who understands the uses and abuses of conventional ‘knowledge’ is Real. How much load can one bull carry? There are so many worlds beyond this world, so very many — what bulls hold them up and support their weight? The names and the colors of the radiant species of beings were all inscribed by the Ever-flowing Pen. Who knows how to write an account of living things? Just imagine what a huge scroll it would take! What power! What fascinating beauty! And what gifts! Who can know their extent? The Real created the vast expanse of Real-ity with 1 Word! Hundreds of thousands of rivers of being began to flow. How can Your Creative Power be described? Wouldn’t I, couldn’t I, die for you even once? Whatever pleases You is the only right thing, You, Ever-Living Form of the Formless! 16.
Endless meditations, endless devotions. endless services of worship, endless hard disciplines. Endless scriptures, and reciters of scriptures. Endless Yogis, with minds detached from the world. Endless devotees contemplating the wisdom and virtues of Reality. Endless numbers of the holy, endless numbers of the charitable. Endless numbers of heroes chewing the riddle of the discipline of steel. Endless numbers of silent sages vibrating the string of Grace playing space-time. How can Your Creative Power be described? Wouldn’t I, couldn’t I, die for you even once? Whatever pleases You is the only right thing, You, Ever-Living Form of the Formless! 17
Endless fools, blinded by ignorance. Endless thieves and tricksters. Endless the numbers of those who impose their will by force. Endless the number of cut-throats and ruthless killers. Endless the number of sinners addicted to sin. Endless the number of liars, wandering lost in their lies. Endless the number of wasters, eating waste as their food. Endless numbers of slanderers carrying the weight of their mistakes on their heads. Nanak describes the state of the lowly. Wouldn’t I, couldn’t I, die for you even once? Whatever pleases You is the only right thing, You, Ever-Living Form of the Formless! 18.
Endless names, places without end — inaccessible, unapproachable, limitless celestial realms. Even to describe them as ‘limitless’ is to carry the weight of error on your head. Yet through language we speak the Name, through language Your praises. Through language spiritual wisdom, singing songs of Your Goodnesses. Through language come written and spoken words and hymns. In language on the forehead is written destiny. But the 1 Writer has no language written on His Forehead. As is commanded so we receive. Where is creation, there is the Name. There is no place without the Name. How can Your Creative Power be described? Wouldn’t I, couldn’t I, die for you even once? Whatever pleases You is the only right thing, You, Ever-Living Form of the Formless! 19.
When hands, feet and body are dirty water can wash away the dirt. When clothes are soiled and stained soap can wash them clean. When the mind is stained by habitual sinning, it can be washed in the colour of the Name. Virtue and vice are not just sounds of language. Actions repeated, over and over again, became engraved on the soul. We harvest what we plant. Says Nanak, according to the Will, we come and go in rebirth. 20.
Pilgrimage, self-deprivation and physical hardship, ritual acts of compassion and ritual charity — these, by themselves, bring only an atom of merit. Listening and Real-ising with your mind in love cleanse yourself with the Name in the sacred pool deep within. All goodnesses and qualities are Yours, I have none. Without goodness or quality, I cannot become a devotee. I bow to the Will, the Word, always wanting in my mind the Beauty of Reality. What was the time, the moment, the day, the date, the season, the month when the Universe was created? The Pandits, the religious scholars of Hindus cannot find out, for all their readings of the Purans. Nor is the time known to the Qazis, the religious scholars of Islam who study the Qur’an. Nor is it known to the Yogis. The Creator who created this creation — only It Itself knows. How can we speak of Reality within language? How can we praise the Real? How can we describe the Real How can we know the Real? Says Nanak, everyone speaks of Reality, each one wiser than the next. Great is the Master, Great the Name. Whatever is Willed happens. Says Nanak, know-it-alls are not honoured in the other world. 21.
There are under-worlds below under-worlds and hundreds of thousands of heavens above heavens above. People have wandered endlessly in searches, something the Vedas confirm. The Semitic scriptures say that there are 18,000 worlds, but the One Power sustains everything. If you try to write the full account of Reality you will surely be finished before you finish it. O Nanak, admit the greatness of Reality! Only the Real knows Reality. 22.
The praisers praise but they do not obtain conscious understanding just as streams and rivers flowing into the ocean do not consciously understand its vastness. Worldly rulers with mountains of property and oceans of wealth are not equal to the ant that in its mind is not separated from the Real. 23.
Endless the praises, endless the discussions. Endless the doings, endless the gifts. Endless what we can see and what we can hear about Reality. The ‘mind’ of Reality is the not the same as the mind of a person; the limits of its ‘thoughts’ are beyond the limits of our minds. The limits of the created universe cannot be perceived. Its limits here and beyond cannot be perceived. Many struggle to know these limits, but these limits cannot be found. No one can delimit Reality. The more you say, the more there still remains to be said. The Master Will, above all Its Place. Above all the Name. Only 1 Reality is in this position so only the Real Itself knows Reality. Says Nanak, we achieve Real-isation only when given the Glance of Grace. 24.
Grace is so abundant that there can be no written account. The Great Giver is not mean. Where do the great warriors beg? Many are the deniers, those who waste away to death. So many take birth and take birth again, and then deny receiving. So many foolish consumers keep on consuming. So many endure distress, deprivation and constant abuse. Even these are Your Gifts, O Great Giver! Liberation from the cycle of rebirth comes only by Your Will. No one else has any say in this. If some fool should presume to say that they do, they shall learn and feel the effects of his folly. Life knows Itself and Itself gives. Few, very few are those who witness this. Says Nanak, anyone blessed to sing praises of the Real is the master of those who dominate this world. 25.
Priceless Goodnesses, Priceless Dealings. Priceless Dealers, Priceless Treasures. Priceless those who come for them, Priceless those who buy them. Priceless their Love, Priceless the flow into Reality. Priceless Dharma, Priceless the Court. Priceless the scales, priceless the weights. Priceless the Blessings, Priceless the Banner and Insignia. Priceless Mercy, Priceless Will. Priceless, Priceless beyond language! But speaking and witnessing remain in the flow of Love. Hindu scriptures speak. Scholars speak and lecture. Brahma speaks, Indra speaks. Gopis and Krishna speak. Shiva speaks, Siddhas speak. Legions of Buddhas speak. Demons speak, demi-gods speak. Warrior saints, citizens of heaven, the silent sages, those opened to the Void — the humble, your servants speak. Many speak and try to describe. Many speak on and on until they rise up and leave this world. If Reality was to create as many again as already exist, still Being remains indescribable. Reality is as Great as Itself Wills. Says Nanak, only the Real knows the extent of Reality. If anyone presumes to describe that person shall be known as the fool of fools. 26.
Where is the clearing ground of Reality, where your Court, the house of the unstruck melody, where You look after each and every sentient being? Countless instruments, notes, harmonies and musicians play there. Countless ragas and raginis, the personifications of particular musical types, sing Your glories. To You sing air, water and fire, and the judge of righteousness, Dharam Raj. Singing are Chit and Gupat, the recorders of the rights and wrongs of our lives. Singing are Shiva, Brahma, and the Goddess, looking beautiful and adorned. Singing is Indra with his followers, the other gods and goddesses. Singing are the sidhs in the state of samadhi and saints in their witness discussions. Singing are the those who abstained from sex, those who kept themselves ritually pure, the content, and fearless warriors. Singing are the pandits and rishis, using the Vedas of different ages. Singing are the captivating beauties of paradise. Singing are the jewels created by You and the sixty-eight pilgrimage sites. Singing are the supremely brave and mighty warriors, and all four building blocks of creation. Singing are the regions of earth, of the heavens, and the universes which You have created and keep safe. In fact, all of these singers are One, pleasing to You — Your fans soaked in loving devotion to You. Countless more, beyond my focus sing Your glories. What can Nanak say about them? Being, Being Forever Real, Master Will, Name, Names. Is Now, Will Be, Never Absenting, Never Coming, Nor Going. The Creator of all the colours of life, from which has sprung Maya, watches over the products of Its own creative effort, as greatly as is Its Greatness. Whatever pleases It, It does that — none to limit It. It is the Ruler, the Ruler of rulers. Says Nanak, follow its Will, the Law. 27.
Advice to a Tantric sect of Buddhist monks[i]: make contentment your ear-rings, humbleness your begging bowl, and meditation the ashes you apply to your body to remind you of death. Let the remembrance of death be the patched coat you wear, be chaste and not made filthy by the world, and let faith be your walking stick. Forget your Ai sect, instead treat all groups of people as your brotherhood; by conquering your mind, conquer the world. I salute again and again: the First, the Pure, First Cause, Indestructible, who is known by the same qualities in every age. 28.
Feed on divine knowledge cooked by lovingkindness, beating from the depths of the heart in tune with the unstruck melody. Itself the supreme spiritualist who makes spirituality possible; those who want supernatural shows are lovers of another taste. The paths of life are two: coming at-one-with-self and going away from self. Our movement depends on the paths we choose and the results that follow these choices. I salute again and again: the First, the Pure, First Cause, Indestructible, who is known by the same qualities in every age. 29.
1 created all including three disciples. The energy tendencies of these disciples is to create, to preserve and to destroy. As 1 Wills so the energies follow the Will. The point of wonder is this: It watches over them, but they cannot see It. I salute again and again: the First, the Pure, First Cause, Indestructible, who is known by the same qualities in every age. 30.
On world after world Will rules and storehouses of Abundance are opened. Whatever was put into them, was put there once and for all. Having created the creation, Being watches over it. I salute again and again: the First, the Pure, First Cause, Indestructible, who is known by the same qualities in every age. 31.
If I had 100,000 tongues, or even more, and then with each tongue I witnessed the Name hundreds of thousands of times, this Way lies the ladder of perfection and we align with the Will. Hearing of the joys of affirmative life, even those living in filth like worms stir to rise. Says Nanak, only Grace saves; all else is false. 32.
Of themselves none has power to speak, of themselves none has power to keep silent. Of themselves none has power to beg, of themselves none has power to give. Of themselves none has power to live, of themselves none has power to die. Of themselves none has power to rule, of themselves none has power to gain intuitive and conscious understanding. Of themselves none has power to find the way to escape from the cycle of rebirth. Reality Itself has the power and abundantly gives. Says Nanak, from our own power none of us is high or low. 33.
In the midst of space-time and the elements Life has established earth as a home for the fulfilment of Will. Upon it, various species of beings, their names uncounted and endless. By their deeds and their actions, they shall be judged. Reality is Truth and True is the Court. There, in fulfilled grace and natural ease sit the chosen ones, self-fulfilling. There it becomes clear who was real and who was fake. Says Nanak, there you shall see all this. 34.
That sums up the importance of the stage of righteous living. Now the stage of knowledge. There are many elements; many Krishnas and Shivas. Many Brahmas fashioning forms of great beauty, adorned and dressed in many colours. Many worlds and lands for working out karma. Many gods, many moons and suns, many worlds and lands. Many Sidhs and Buddhas, many Yogic masters. Many goddesses of various kinds. Many demi-gods and demons, many silent sages. Many jewels born from the oceans. Many cultures, traditions and ways of life, many languages. Many powerful dominators of worlds. Many intuitive and conscious people, many selfless servants. Says Nanak, welcome Infinity: all knowledge is partial. 35.
In the stage of knowledge one discovers more of the matrix of being: joys, sights and sounds fill our senses. In the stage of shame is the starting point of the language of Beauty. Such Beauty is formed that we cannot describe and will regret the attempt. None has a right to the favour being given if memory reminds us of our errors. If we try to attain this stage by our own power nothing comes of it but dryness, an inability to think good thoughts or be full of Life. Intuition rises and begins to re-collect itself, intellect or will finds increasing union in prayer, and conscious understanding works for the cultivation of the virtues. The mentalscape of the godly is trained here as servants of love, agents of Grace. 36.
In the stage of grace is the power of love. Only heroes of the spirit reach there, drunk with love, fulfilled with Life, knit with Reality so everything they do is occupied in the Way. Their beauty cannot be described. Neither death nor deception comes to those, whose being = 1 with Being. The saints of many planets live there. They celebrate, blooming with Life. The stage of Being is Formless. Having created the creation, Being watches over beings. By the Glance of Grace happiness is gifted. There are planets, solar systems and galaxies. If one speaks of them, there is no limit, no end. There are universes upon universes of creation. Through Will they exist. Experiencing 1 rejoices. Says Nanak, to talk about this is as hard as eating iron. 37.
Be chaste and self-controlled to make the furnace. Cultivate patience as the goldsmith. Make conscious understanding the anvil and knowledge the tools to hammer with. Fear of God is the bellows, fanning flames of willpower by which one neither chases pleasures from runs from pains. In the crucible of love, melt affirming and witnessing the Name. Through such alchemy a person unites with the Sabd, the written being of being, and reaches the gold standard and becomes minted treasure. This is the Way of Grace — being is filled with happiness to overflowing. 38[ii].
Air/breath is the Guru, water the father, Earth the great mother. Day and night are two nurses in whose lap the children of Earth play. Their good and bad deeds are all done in the Presence. According to their deeds, some move nearer while others wander further away from it. Those who follow the Will, the Inner Tutor, their intution, are liberated. Says Nanak, these ones shine and with them others also find freedom from the chains of self-obsession, the wheel of rebirth. 1.
[i] What is the Ai Panth? Cf. P.939
[ii] What artefact is being produced — the golden bangle mentioned by Ravidas where the gold and the bangle are One? A symbol of unity, eternity and a bond of fellowship and love., a kara?