Jaap Sahib English Katha #1 - Importance and ikongkaarsatgurprasaad

Vaheguru ji kaKhalsa, Vaheguru ji ki Fateh

Satsangat ji, Jaap sahib.

Jap and Jaap, these words come together lots of times in all Rehat name

Japji sahib and Jaap sahib

In those days when Guru Gobind Singh issued the Hukamnama, they said Jap and Jaap

When Bhai Nand Lal talked with Guru Gobind Singh ji in 1696, which was even before the Amrit Sanchaar

Maharj said (i) recite the mool mantar, have an (ii) ishnan and (iii) read both Jap and Jaapji sahib in the morning

These two things are very important to read (Jaap and Japji sahib)

These are the first two prayers a Sikh is supposed to do in the morning

And it was done before 1699 already

It is not that the recitation of Jaap Sahib was introduced with the Amrit Sanchaar

this was done by every Sikh before that as well because Maharaj Hukamname were about Jap Jaap

and the first Panj Pyaare did have it memorized as well

because they made amrit

so they did it every day and had it memorized.

It is the second of the five amrit banis

so first we read Japji sahib, then Jaap sahib

the panj pyaare had to look at the water, and not a gutka, so they must have memorized it

so it's important to have it memorized because kirpa grishti

and also they did not have that many gutke in those days

as we have nowaday, and they did not have iphones

so it was important to memorize your bani in those days

because in case you were out and did not have your gutka, you had it memorized

and in the old days they used to say having your bani memorized is like having money in your pocket

you can spend it any time

if you have a debit card in your pocket and the money is in the bank account, that is well

but if you go to shop they might say cash only please

and you gotta go to the bank machine to take out the money

that's what it means when you can't spend the money straight away

but if you have it memorized, you do not even have to wash your hands, to start reading your prayers anywhere

it is very important to start memorizing our paath

Where does Jaap sahib come from?

It is the first bani of Dasam Granth sahib

And Japji Sahib is the first bani of Guru Granth sahib ji

It was composed by Guru Gobind Singh ji in Paonta Sahib, when he was 16 years old

From when he was 16 to 33 years old, the Sikhs would have been reading this!

Amrit was made when he was 33 years old

There is a story of Baba Harnam Singh

It's a quite nice story.

Baba Harnam Singh is very well recognized in our panth as a Gurmukh.

He was involved in the Dharam Judh Morcha (1982 peaceful protests to support the Anandput Sahib Resolution)

He went to prison as well - he was not just a saint who does not get involved in politics

He knew Bhai Jarnail Singh, and there is photos of them together

and they were involved in politics

At the time that Baba Harnam Singh got darshan of Guru Gobind Singh ji, he was not reading Jaap sahib every day

He would do Japji sahib, Swaye, Benti Chaupai, Anand sahib, Sukhmani sahib, and Asa di var every day

He would do a lot of bandgi, simran...and basically lived his whole life for Sikhi

Guru Gobind Singh ji was happy with him

One day Baba Harman Singh was doing bagti on his little farm.

A shaheed Singh knocked on his door and told him to get ready for the visit from Guru Gobind Singh

Baba Harnam Singh got very excited and went outside

Maharaj came on a horse and came up to them.

He looked at them and Maharj looked at them. Then Maharj rode off.

Baba Harnam Singh was happy that he saw Guru Gobind Singh ji but he was a bit sad too

The other Singh asked him "why are you sad?"

You should be happy. You just got darshan of Guru Gobind Singh ji.

Baba Harnam Singh said "Maharaj said nothing to me"

We want to hear our Gurus words, isn't it? So they were a bit sad.

And then the Singh said: "wait one second, I'll go and ask him"

He went and aked "Why did you not say anything to the Sikh?"

Because Guru Gobind Singh ji was still around - they had not gone anywhere

They are amar shaheed. So they are always around!

The shaheed Singh said: "Guru Gobind Singh said nothing to you because you do not read Jaap sahib"

because you know when you took amrit that you are supposed to read Jaap sahib but you do not read it worth a read of her but you don't really

Baba Harnam Singh said : "I find it very hard to say and memorize"

and it is different from SGGS bani, very unique

But the Sikh said "It is hukam"

So hukam of Guru ji is more important than what we think

we might think one thing, we might like one thing - that is irrelevant

hukum is what we should follow.

Then Baba Harnam Singh said "I'm sorry" and started reading Jaap sahib every day and had it memorized very soon

and then they had darshan of Guru Gobind Singh many times after that, and Maharaj always spoke to him

so it's very important to read Jaap sahib and it is a good test on memorizing Bani

only if you read this Bani every day will you can have their ability to memorize it

and also Maharj ji kirpa (blessing).

because to have meorized it he must have blessed you at some point.

you have to do ardaas because it is very hard to memorize

some people in our panth get scared of disrespecting our Guru

one example is some people do not want to read Jaap sahib because it is so hard to say

it is different. so they think if I say it wrong Guru Gobind Singh will be upset with me

now - we should try and say it properly.

and if it is hard for you do half in the morning and half in the evening

when you get it memorized you can do it in about 10-15 min.

but if you can't do it, in the beginning it take you half an hour

then do some in the morning to some in the evening, do some at night

try - you will never start to do it until you start

so we should try listen to it on tape, follow along on the gutka

then start reading it yourself

another way people get a bit scared is of direspecting SGGS ji

they say "I don't want to disrespect my Guru, Guru Granth Sahib ji"

then they say: "oh well if I respect Jaap sahib, then I am direspecting SGGS ji"

some of the crazy stuff that goes through our heads

people think by respecting Jaap sahib as Gurbani, as Guru Gobind Singh jis Bani

the Sikh Rehat Maryada is very clear that this is Gurus Bani, Amrit Bani

it makes amrit and it can give us mukhti as well

A Gutka obviously includes Dasam Bani and SGGS jis Bani in one Gutka

Even in Takht Hazoor Sahib and Takht Patna Sahib there also SGGS has a different palki from Dasam Granth Sahib

so it's like the head is SGGS and the two shoulders are Dasam Granth and Sarbloh Granth

Guru Gobind Singh ji did give the guruship to the Guru Granth sahib themselves

Guru Gobind Singh wrote the Bani themselves and made amrit in 1699

And in 1708 they passes gurugaddi to Guru Granth sahib themselves

so the status of Guru Granth sahib comes from Guru Gobind Singh

It is not disrespecting Guru Granth sahib ji when we respect Guru Gobind Singh ji and their Bani

Because they were the Guru before and passed it on

There is no need to stress - respect Dassam Bani as much as you can

Guru Granth sahib ji is not going to get upset with you. I promise you that.

All of Guru Gobind Singh ji´s Bani has to be respected by us

because that is our Guru´s Bani, their own form

They say Japji sahib gives you braham gyaan and how to achieve Oneness.

We talked about the several stages, about the panch khands.

Jaap sahib is like how to do next.

It tells you that Japji sahib is about listening, accepting and doing.

What do we have to do? To praise! Jaap sahib is all about praising God.

Namastang - I bow to

It is like the next step from Japji sahib

Praise God and all of their qualities

Jaap sahib is basically a follow on from Japji sahib, it is all of their vadhyaia (greatness)

how to praise Waheguru

it can give you a lot of strength as well because the Khalsa needed to be strong

The Khalsa needed to be somebody who could take on this warrior spirit

Jaap sahib starts with

Both Japji and Jaap sahib start off with Ik oangkaar

Before anyhthing else happens Maharj makes clear what we believe: Ik oangkaar

We associate Ik oangkaar with Guru Nanak Dev jis hand, but Guru Gobind Singh jis Bani starts off with Ik oangkaar as well

Both Guru Granth sahib and Guru Dassam Granth start with Ik oangkaar

Before we go into the details of Jaap sahib we should reclarify what this makes

Because Guru Gobind Singh ji is telling us to look at it again

Ik is a number - it is not something to twist around

Human beings are very clever - if you give them something straight forward they will still twist it

So Maharaj made it completely uncontroversial. They put a number, and not the word "ik".

So it is always true in every language: One

Then they say oangkaar

Today I was doing katha in Bedford Gurdwara about ik oangkaar sat gur parsaad

I`d say that about 60-70% of the panth who live abroad interpret it as "There is one God"

But it is not saying that

It says "Ik" and then the next bit is "oangkaar"

People get a bit confused

"Oangkaar" is a description of how the world was made

It can be translated in three different ways

1. The sound "oang" made the world, which means we were all made by One

In Science they say for a sound to exist they need an atmosphere

But some people say space is a vacuum, they can be no sound in a vacuum and therefore space.

And it is true, space is a vacuum now, but not back then.

The Big Bang happened 14.3 billion years ago! It all basically came from One, singularity they call it.

Singularity - from the Ik they expanded out.

When the expansion happened, the first thing that was created is hydrogen gas.

At that moment you had atmosphere.

There was a sound that could be heard. That sound was "oang".

Imagine Maharaj told us how the world was made and we keep saying "There is one God"

Bani tells you that

In that air was a sound "oang" and then came water. And after water comes life.

What do scientists do when they look for the science of life?

They look for water! Water makes everything real.

And how is water made of air? H2O

Hydrogen and oxygen. So air makes water. Water makes life.

Maharj ji is saying that as well!

Imagine that science is written straight in "Ik oangkaar" and our Sikhs who read this every day do not understand how amazing this is

This "Ik oangkaar" is the beej mantar (seed mantar).

This beej mantar means "the seed".

This mantar can be repeated again and again.

"Ik oangkaar" - "Ik oangkaar" - "Ik oangkaar"

That is called the cyclical explanation of creation: The world expanded from the Big Bang and was made in cycles.

Singularity - big bang - big crunch

What does Bani say about this?

Guru Arjan Dev ji says in Sukhmani sahib

So what it is telling you is that the world was made many and many times again, too.

In Science they tell us the cyclical theory, but we know the world was made many times too.

I do not know what level we are on now - maybe it is the 30th time the world was made.

We expanded and it all crunched back together.

Maybe it is the 10th million time.

We will never know when the world was made, or about the world prior to that.

All we know is where we are: 14.3 billion years ago the Big Bang happened and we all came from that.

But how long have our souls been around?

One meaning is the scientific meaning, the other meaning is from the "Ik" we came out as well.

We all came from the "Ik oangkaar" - with this sound we came out as well.

The word "dareeaao" can also mean the life cycle of living.

All of us were created by "Ik" and we got put into life cycles.

Before that we were part of the "Ik" as well.

We were not seperate from the "Ik", we were part of the "Ik".

We have come from there and we have to go back there.

It is describing the human journey as well.

We have come up from the "Ik" and we have to go back to the "Ik".

Bani tells us

"Ik oangkaar" can mean the One made everything with the sound, or the One made us with the sound

In Kirtan sohila we say

The Hindus have the word "Om". But if you ask a Hindu how to write it, the ones that do not know will say "O-M".

The ones that know, the Vedas and Granths, will say there are three letters: A - U - M

This refers to Brahma, Vishnu and Mahest

Maharj puts in front of this "Ik"

Do not think the A-U-M made the world.

They tink Brahma made akaara, Vishnu sustains us (ukkara), and makkara (Shiva) will destroy the world.

Maharaj says: Ik oangkaar. The One controls all these three!

We believe in these three, it is not that we dismiss them, but we do not see them as the most important

When we get to dharam khand

Those three are mentioned there.

When we get to Gyaan khand we start to understand there is so many Brahmas, so many Vishnus, so many Mahest

They do not matter - what matters is the One that made all of them

The whole Hindu mythology is adressed here and the Hindus are told it was all made by the One

Imagine now the Hindu trilogy, the three Guns, is all adressed by the One, Ik

And what do we Sikhs do nowadays? We tell our kids Ik oangkaar means there is one God.

To disrespect Bani is to not even explain it to someone.

If we are Sikhs, and this is our Guru, let us understand our Guru.

It is so beautiful and so deep, but we just shorten it to something which is almost incomprehensible.

Let us go into the next bit: satgur prasaad

Let us seperate the sat from the naam - this the truth, not the true name

And who will teach us this truth? Our Guru

Guru teaches us this truth, that is why it is gur prasaad

And what does our Guru give us?

Naam. That is why you can seperate sat from naam, and add gur to sat.

Guru sahib gives naam.

Guru sahibs job is to give naam

All of Bani is naam as well

When we take amrit it is made from bani as well. It is made from naam

Gurus prasaad is naam

And satguru teaches us about naam

The one who knows the truth, can take us back to the truth

We need to rethink about how we translate "ik oangkaar satgur prasaad"

Next week we are gonna go through the rest of Jaap sahib

Sat means the hukam as well because the sat made everything.

The hukam is the manifestation of sat.

The one manifested into the world but the one remains in control

This sat is also hukam. And what is the hukam? naam and gur prasaad.

We need our Guru to give us naam.

He was sent by the One to give us this truth.

We cannot escape the One, we are made by him.

We are made to get naam.

And how are we gonna get that? By Gurus grace

Maharaj has the power to give us naam, Maharaj has been sent by the One to teach us about the One.

To join us with the One and he has the power.

God is sitting in Guru. Satguru is now with God and has the power to enlighten us

That is why we worship him and bow down to him

Who do we ask for naam? Our Guru

He is the one who is one with One, with Waheguru