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Anand - Seeing You within You |
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Editor’s Note: This series is focused on exploring the core lessons for the soul as embodied in the Anand Sahib, written by the third Sikh Master, Guru Amar Das. There are two articles to introduce this Anand Sahib series. To read those click below: When we look around the world these days, it may be said that everything is truly falling apart. War in the Middle East is coming to a crisis proportion never seen in my generation. The devastation of the environment continues on a daily basis, as people place more faith in machines and manufactured goods than on themselves and on each other. What humanity desperately needs is a science of the mind. A science of consciousness - of how to live. In the Anand Sahib, Guru Amar Das gives us that science. The First Pauree (step or verse) of the Anand Sahib has to do with the very first year of a soul's life. In this first year, it is not the baby teaching itself. The first year's lesson depends upon the mother.
What she thinks, how she feels, how she reacts - all of those energetic patterns get imprinted on a soul when it is still in the womb. During the first few years of life, a baby is absolutely dependent upon the mother. So the vibrational relationship between them becomes the basis of the child's learning and communication. What a mother teaches through her subtle vibration forms the most unconscious foundation of a child's personality and self-concept. The pattern of that vibration will stay with the child for his or her entire life. The first Pauree of the Anand Sahib conveys the key lesson for the soul during its first year of life. The phrase "oh my mother" comes in the very first line of this Pauree. The soul speaks to the mother about the purpose of its incarnation, the very reason for its existence. The first Pauree explains exactly why the soul took birth and what it is here to experience. The soul has come to experience bliss through the Guru. To meditate upon the Shabad in order to crack through the difficult wall of ego and discover its own Divinity and deathlessness. This is the very purpose for the soul's incarnation - to give itself that experience. And the First Pauree is saying - Mother, this is why I am here. Remember it. Imprint me with it. A newly born baby cannot read the Anand Sahib to itself. So in this first year of life, it falls upon the mother to hold the correct thoughts towards her child. To see the child as a radiant soul, who has a destiny with the Guru. As a being that has a chance at liberation. If the mother can see, think and react to the baby in this manner, her most subtle vibration can help imprint this pattern into the foundation of the child's personality. Yet there is a problem here. How realistic is it for mothers to see their sons or daughters in this light? Especially if no one ever saw these mothers in that light to begin with? In the Kaliyug, it is quite difficult. What are the circumstances of the pregnancy? What is the experience of birth? Is the woman in secure and graceful environments? What was the emotional and mental state of the mother during pregnancy and birth? For many people, the mother was not in a position to vibrate these key lessons towards the newly born soul, even though that is what the soul actually needed. However, the gift of the Anand Sahib is that is can allow us to rewrite the lessons that we did not get along the way. If your relationship with your mother is damaged, if she could not simply behold you as a soul with a destiny of your own, with a purpose to become learned and grow, it is all right. By meditating on this first Pauree of the Anand Sahib, the imprint can come. By reciting it a minimum of 11 times a day, it has the capacity to rewrite your relationship with your first teacher, your mother, and realign the foundation of your life. Here is the first pauree of the Anand Sahib, with my own poetic interpretation, followed by some brief words about the line.
This is the most simple statement of the soul to the mother. I have found the experience of Anand through the Guru, through the Teacher. This is why the soul has incarnated. This is what the mother must anchor within the personality through her thoughts and prayers. The purpose of the soul's life is Anand, and the soul will attain that experience through the Guru.
The soul knows the process that the Guru will take it through. Normally, the mind only focuses on its own thoughts and feelings. The self-generated thoughts and feelings of the mind create the illusion of ego - of "my" and "mine." But the Guru has the power to elevate the frequency of the mind so that it lives surrendered, easeful, and in the flow of the Cosmos. Through the Guru, the mind can move beyond itself and connect with the Greater Reality. This incredible experience is the potential of every human life, and the amazing gift of the human incarnation.
The first part of this particular line talks about Raag - and Raag has so many aspects to it. It is the classical music scales of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Raag also means love. If we get into the mystical science of Naad, of Sound, the Raags actually have a Creative Consciousness behind them. The Creator used them to form the Creation, and when we sing in Raag, we restore Creation back to its state of Original Love. So the soul senses this opportunity - it sees the Spirit of the Raags, and it knows that the Shabad will give it the experience it searches for. The lines about the "sacred sound" here are my own definition of Shabad, which I included for English speakers who may have had no previous introduction to the term.
Gurbani is such a beautiful language, and it says so many things that English has no simple words for. That is why these translations, or interpretations, use so much English for so few words of Gurbani. But the key in this line is the instruction to just sing the Shabad. Because the Shabad was created by the Creator - by Hari. The Shabad is the Creator's gift to us, to manage the mind. To train it, tame it, and eventually adjust it to be in-tune with the Divine Reality. The soul is here to do this discipline of singing the Shabad and attuning the mind. This is why it took birth.
In these versus of the Anand Sahib, Guru Amar Das repeats the first line at the very end, to seal the point. The Guru will bring the soul the experience of Anand. And that is why the soul took birth. When we meditate on this first pauree of the Anand Sahib, it sets the foundation of our personalities. It reminds us that we are Infinite souls who have come to the earth to live in the state of Anand. The Shabad Guru is a gift from the Creator that can attune the mind to Infinite consciousness. With that attunement, Anand can manifest in our lives. In the ideal world, the mother imprints this truth upon her baby with her thoughts, prayers and feelings towards the child. But because we live in a less than perfect world, Gurbani has the power to rewrite our original imprints and bring us to this beautiful understanding. Grateful to share these simple thoughts on the First Pauree of the Anand Sahib. I look forward to reading your comments, and I hope this has given you some new perspectives to meditate upon.
Ek Ong Kaar Kaur |
It is said that the mother is the first teacher. However, she does not teach her child in an intellectual way, or in an analytical way. The mother teaches her child through the most subtle vibration of her being.
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Related article:
Anand Sahib 1st Pauri (Russian translation)
