Japji Sahib

01At amrit vela

Sikh practice asks that Japji be recited at amrit vela, the ambrosial hours before dawn, after bathing. It takes about twenty minutes. Many Sikhs know it by heart before they can read Gurmukhi well, and say it while getting ready for work, walking, driving. Guru Arjan Dev Ji set it at the head of the Adi Granth, before the ragas begin, and it is the only bani there that carries no raga: it is meant to be recited, word by word, not sung. The Sikh Rehat Maryada names it first among the morning Nitnem banis, and it is the first of the five banis read over the amrit at a Khalsa initiation.

02The Mul Mantar

Japji opens with the Mul Mantar, the root formula, and with it the whole Guru Granth Sahib opens. Ik Onkar: the numeral one joined to the letter of Onkar, so that no one can read it as two. Sat Naam, whose Name is Truth. Karta Purakh, the Maker, present in what is made. Nirbhau, without fear; Nirvair, without enmity. Akal Murat, a form beyond death and time. Ajuni, never born into any womb. Saibhang, self-existent. Gur Prasad, known only by the Guru’s grace. Then the single word Jap, recite. Sikh teachers say the rest of the Granth is the Mul Mantar opened out.

03The wall of falsehood

After the salok, “true in the beginning, true through the ages, true now, and true forever”, the first pauri asks the question the whole bani answers. Thinking a hundred thousand times does not make the mind pure. Sitting in silence does not make it silent. Piling up the riches of the worlds does not end its hunger, and a thousand clevernesses do not go with you. How then does one become sachiara, a person of truth, and how is the wall of falsehood broken? Guru Nanak answers in one line: by walking in the hukam, the Will, which is written within you.

04Hukam and the Giver

The second pauri explains the hukam. By the Order forms are made, by the Order souls come into being, by the Order some are high and some low, some blessed and some wandering; everyone is within it, no one outside. The pauris that follow praise the Giver who gives and gives while the takers grow tired, and ask what can be offered at that door. The answer is the Name, spoken at amrit vela. Pauri 5 names the Guru: the Guru is Shiva, the Guru is Gorakh and Brahma, the Guru is Parvati the Mother, and the true Guru shows that there is one Giver of all beings.

05Suniai and mannai

The middle pauris have refrains a child can learn. Four begin suniai, by listening: by listening to the Name one becomes a siddha, a pir, a devta, a nath; by listening the earth and the sky are understood; by listening death cannot touch. Four begin mannai, by believing, by taking the Name to heart, and say the state of one who believes cannot be told; whoever tries regrets it, for no pen and no paper can write it. The one who believes does not walk the road of Yama, and saves family and friends as well. Sikh kathakars often spend a whole evening on a single one of these eight pauris.

06The countless

Pauri 16 speaks of the panch, the chosen ones who are honoured at the court, and of the bull of dharma, born of compassion, that holds the earth in place; beyond this earth, it says, are more and more, and no one can count them. Then come the asankh pauris, countless: countless prayers, countless loves, countless worships and austerities, countless scriptures and readers of the Vedas, countless warriors and silent sages. And countless fools, thieves, murderers and slanderers too. After each list the Guru asks the same thing: what power do I have to think of You? I cannot be a sacrifice to You even once. Whatever pleases You is good.

07Tirath, and the gate

Pauri 20 says that as hands soiled with dirt are washed with water, a mind soiled with sin is washed with love of the Name. Pauri 21 weighs tirath, tapas, daya and daan, pilgrimage, austerity, compassion and charity, and says that without love within they earn only a sesame seed of honour; the true bath is in the tirath within. Pauri 27 asks, “So dar keha”: which is that gate, which that house, where You sit and care for all? Then it lists the singers at that gate: wind, water and fire, Dharamraj, Shiva, Brahma and the devis, Indra, the siddhas, the khands and the worlds. The same pauri, with small changes, opens Rehras each evening.

08Five khands

Pauris 34 to 37 describe the rising of the soul through five khands, realms. Dharam Khand is this earth, set amid nights, seasons, dates and days, wind, water, fire and the underworlds, as a place for righteous action; here every deed is judged. Gian Khand is the realm of knowledge, where the soul sees how many winds and waters, how many Krishnas and Shivas, how many Brahmas and worlds there are. Saram Khand is the realm of effort, whose language is beauty, where intellect and understanding are shaped anew. Karam Khand is the realm of grace, held by warriors full of Rama. Sach Khand is where the Formless dwells, and there the Guru says it is as hard as steel to describe.

09The mint and the closing salok

The thirty-eighth pauri closes with a goldsmith’s workshop. Let self-restraint be the furnace and patience the goldsmith, understanding the anvil and knowledge the hammer, the fear of God the bellows and tapas the fire, love the crucible in which the nectar is poured, and in that true mint the Shabad will be coined. Then the closing salok: air is the Guru, water the father, the great earth the mother; day and night are the two nurses in whose lap the world plays. Good and bad deeds are read out before Dharam. Those who meditated on the Name and went having toiled are radiant, says Nanak, and many are set free with them.

What it contains

1. 1
   Mul Mantar and opening salok ਮੂਲ ਮੰਤਰ

   The creed with which the Guru Granth Sahib begins, from Ik Onkar to Gur Prasad, then the word Jap. The salok “Aad sach, jugad sach” follows: true in the beginning, through the ages, now and forever.

2. 2
   Pauris 1–4: the hukam and the Giver

   Thinking, silence and cleverness cannot break the wall of falsehood; walking in the hukam does. The Order is described, and the Giver who never tires of giving is praised.

3. 3
   Pauris 5–7: the Guru and true worth

   The Guru is the one who shows the one Giver. Pilgrimage pleases only if it pleases the Lord; a long life and fame are nothing without His glance of grace.

4. 4
   Pauris 8–15: suniai and mannai

   Four pauris of listening to the Name and four of believing in it. Their refrains are among the first lines a Sikh child learns.

5. 5
   Pauris 16–19: the panch and the countless

   The chosen ones honoured at the court, the bull of dharma that holds the earth, and the endless creation beyond counting. Each asankh pauri ends: whatever pleases You is good.

6. 6
   Pauris 20–27: washing the mind, and So Dar

   The Name washes the mind as water washes hands; pilgrimage and charity without love earn a sesame seed. No one knows when creation was made; the Lord’s praises have no end. Pauri 27 asks which is the gate where the Lord sits and who sings there.

7. 7
   Pauris 28–33: the true yogi and the limits of power

   Guru Nanak speaks to the yogis in their own terms: make contentment your earrings, modesty your begging bowl, meditation your ashes. Then he says no one has the power to speak, to be silent, to beg or to give, to live or to die, except by the Lord’s will.

8. 8
   Pauris 34–37: the five khands

   Dharam Khand, Gian Khand, Saram Khand, Karam Khand and Sach Khand, the rising of the soul from the earth of righteous action to the realm of Truth where the Formless dwells.

9. 9
   Pauri 38 and the closing salok

   The mint in which the Shabad is coined. Then the salok of air as Guru, water as father and earth as mother, and the faces made radiant by the Name.

Famous verses

ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ ॥ ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ॥੧॥

True in the beginning, true through the ages. True now, says Nanak, and true forever.Japji Sahib, opening salok (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1)

ਕਿਵ ਸਚਿਆਰਾ ਹੋਈਐ ਕਿਵ ਕੂੜੈ ਤੁਟੈ ਪਾਲਿ ॥ ਹੁਕਮਿ ਰਜਾਈ ਚਲਣਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਨਾਲਿ ॥੧॥

How does one become truthful, and how is the wall of falsehood broken? By walking in the Order and the Will, says Nanak, written within you.Japji Sahib, pauri 1 (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1)

ਜਤੁ ਪਾਹਾਰਾ ਧੀਰਜੁ ਸੁਨਿਆਰੁ ॥ ਅਹਰਣਿ ਮਤਿ ਵੇਦੁ ਹਥੀਆਰੁ ॥

Let self-restraint be the furnace and patience the goldsmith; let understanding be the anvil and knowledge the hammer.Japji Sahib, pauri 38 (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 8)

ਪਵਣੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਪਾਣੀ ਪਿਤਾ ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤਿ ਮਹਤੁ ॥

Air is the Guru, water the father, and the great earth the mother.Japji Sahib, closing salok (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 8)