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Read this page before beginning: http://www.sikhs.org/japji/jp28.htm

For those of you that were too lazy to go read it, the link is for the 28th pauree of Japji Sahib. I must have read this pauree countless times in my lifetime, but it definitely made more sense in class that day than it has ever before.

This pauree in Japji Sahib really hits home and even after hundreds of years of being written it still remains SO relevant to our lives. In the opening lines, Guru Sahib tells us to “make contentment our earrings, humility our begging bowl and meditation the ashes we apply to our body” and in order to understand this pauree we need a little bit of background information on who Guru Nanak Dev Ji is referring to and what he’s saying about them or to them.

In this pauree Guru Sahib is referring to or is having a conversation with a group of Jogis (Yogis), and when translated literally a Yogi is someone who practices Yoga. When I think of the word Yogi, I think of some of the people I used to see in India: Dreadlocked hair, minimal clothing, praying beads in the hand and around the neck, and sometimes even covered in ashes but overall just seen as “Holy people”. I’m trying to research more on the Yogi lifestyle and find out more about it, but from the little that I have read it sounds really intriguing.

You’re probably wondering why Yogis cover their bodies in ashes, and after some simple google-ing I find the answer to actually be really awesome. In essence, Yogis cover themselves in ashes in order to constantly remind themselves and their urban surroundings that our bodies are impermanent and will not go with us into the next life…. I find that to be beautiful, conceptually. In fact, Guru Sahib even talks about this concept numerous times throughout the Guru Granth Sahib but we will have to discuss more on that at some other time, perhaps another class.

Now let’s go back to the pauree. My focus for the class was “man jeetai jagjeet”, which loosely translates to “by conquering your mind, conquer the world”. Guru Sahib is so polite and so humble in conveying this message to the Yogis, it’s so awesome. He understood exactly what their practices were and then offered some suggestions of his own. Guru Nanak encourages the Yogis and, more importantly us, to attain humility, contentment, meditation, constant remembrance of God, faith in God, and the realization that our bodies are just loaners from our creator. For me personally, I interpret it as him asking me to challenge myself and attain these things without having to wear ear-rings or cover myself in ashes, or practice any of the other Yogi traditions. He tells me to actually LIVE those qualities and not just present them to the world through the symbols that I carry.

We may not have many Yogis roaming the streets of the western world, but when I try to relate this pauree to my life I think about the numerous times in my life I’ve adorned the 5 kakaars of the Khalsa but have failed to actually practice their purpose, which is why “Man jeetai jagjeet” becomes so important in our lives. Lets together all learn to conquer our minds and tame our souls before we try to conquer the world. There is a lot more to write and talk about, because I feel like I could go on for hours about just this pauree, but time is short.

This post was more for me than it was for anyone else, see the next post for what actually took place in class that day