JIS HATH JOR KAR VAIKEH SOYE

GYAANI SANT SINGH JI MASKEEN

Man has been bestowed with amazing powers – the ability to see, hear and touch and most
importantly the ability to be able to think and contemplate, they have all been gifted to us. Such
is the success of the use of human power that now it is possible to fly faster and higher than
fastest of birds. Human brain started inventing and now It is now able to swim above and below
the oceans, amongst countless other inventions. If it is about philosophical debates, human
brain presented its logical answers to most complex of problems. One can keep counting such
successes, yet will not able to comprehend the power of man.

The question now arises: Is man able to do all this on his own or is there some supernatural
power controlling and getting it done through him? Religion agrees with the latter. Even
scientists will agree it is 'nature' that controls and gets things done. Although religious and
scientific viewpoints may appear to be similar, yet there is a big difference between the two.
From the perspective of science, man is nothing but a machine that is being 'used' to get jobs
done. Religion agrees with this ideology and says that man is nothing more than a tool (Jant).
The difference is a religious person drops all his burdens, tensions, sorrows and sadnesss in the
feet of Akal Purakh while a man of science ends up piling up and eventually drowing in these
sorrows.

ਜੀਅ ਜੰ ਤ ਤੇਰੇ ਧਾਰੇ ॥

jeea janth thaerae dhhaarae ||
The beings and creatures are Your creation.

ਪ�ਭ ਡੋਰੀ ਹਾਿਥ ਤੁਮਾਰੇ ॥

prabh ddoree haathh thumaarae ||
O God, their reins are in Your hands. (Ang 626, SGGS Ji)

Man cannot free himself from his actions (karams), these will have to be performed, looking for
instance is an action, however involuntary it may be it is not possible to physically detach from
karams. Now question is how to keep performing actions without associating self with them?
Whatever actions we do, we consider ourselves to their performer and accordingly, we become
the recipient of whatever consequences those karms bring. There are good karams and bad
karams and accordingly there are good and bad 'rewards' and to receive and suffer/enjoy them
one life is not enough and that is how a long cycle of birth, death and rebirth starts. But what
happens if one starts living according to this tukk:

ਕਰਮ ਕਰਤ ਹੋਵੈ ਿਨਹਕਰਮ ॥

karam karath hovai nihakaram ||
Performing good deeds, he does not seek rewards. (Ang 274, SGGS Ji)

If one lives and performs good actions without any expectation of any sort of reward then one is
able to get out of the constant cycle of birth and rebirth.
ਧਰਮ ਰਾਇ ਦਿਰ ਕਾਗਦ ਫਾਰੇ ਜਨ ਨਾਨਕ ਲੇ ਖਾ ਸਮਝਾ ॥੪॥੫॥
dhharam raae dhar kaagadh faarae jan naanak laekhaa samajhaa ||4||5||
The Righteous Judge of Dharma, in the Court of the Lord, has torn up my papers; servant Nanak's account
has been settled. ||4||5|| (Ang 698, SGGS Ji)

But what do we do instead? We attach our own self with every action. For example, If we do
seva or help the needy, we claim its us who did it. We associate ourselves with any action that
elevates our social status. Those who have risen above this level and have understood what
Gurbani tells us regarding this, they will break any association of self with good deeds and say
Waheguru is getting them done:

ਸਿਭ ਗੁਣ ਤੇਰੇ ਮੈ ਨਾਹੀ ਕੋਇ ॥

sabh gun thaerae mai naahee koe ||
All virtues are Yours, Lord, I have none at all. (Ang 4, SGGS Ji)

But a superficial person will claim every good deed that happens, happens because he is the one
doing it. Consider the action of birth – it happened without our wish. We were not asked
whether we want to be born or not. Similarly, we will not be consulted when do we want to die:

ਜੋਰੁ ਨ ਜੀਵਿਣ ਮਰਿਣ ਨਹ ਜੋਰੁ ॥

jor n jeevan maran neh jor ||
No power to live, no power to die. (Ang 7, SGGS Ji)
From this we should understand and absorb that we are not the creator of life and death, not of
anything we see around us. We are nothing but a mere creation of that creator who do not even
have the power to give.

Once Hazrat Ali asked Hazrat Mohammed a question: Am I independent or bound in my actions?
Mohammed said, raise one of your legs up. Ali raised his right leg on hearing this. Then
Mohammed asked Ali to raise his left leg up as well. Ali expressed his helplessness and said he
can only raise one leg, not both. Mohammed smiled and said, This is the level of independence
you have got, not more. If you wanted, you could have raised left leg up first, but not now. But
remember, the freedom to raise that one leg has also been bestowed upon you. A fish can swim
from one end of the ocean to another yet cannot come out of water. Similarly, there is a limit to
everything that happens within the boundaries of our lifespan.

After looking at all the misery, pain and sadness in mankind, one has to exclaim that man is
helpless, because nobody asks for pain or misery, yet there are being given:

ਇਸ ਕੈ ਹਾਿਥ ਹੋਇ ਤਾ ਸਭੁ ਿਕਛੁ ਲੇ ਇ ॥

eis kai haathh hoe thaa sabh kishh laee ||
If it were in our hands, we would grab up everything.

ਜੋ ਿਤਸੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਸੋਈ ਕਰੇਇ ॥

jo this bhaavai soee karaee ||
Whatever pleases God - that is what He does. (Ang 227, SGGS Ji)

And

ਇਸ ਕਾ ਬਲੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਇਸੁ ਹਾਥ ॥

eis kaa bal naahee eis haathh ||
There is no power in the hands of mortal beings;

ਕਰਨ ਕਰਾਵਨ ਸਰਬ ਕੋ ਨਾਥ ॥

karan karaavan sarab ko naathh ||
the Doer, the Cause of causes is the Lord of all. (Ang 277, SGGS Ji)

But if one's consiousness is focussed at feet of Waheguru then all our associations with good and
bad actions are broken. By doing so, we can up from the belief tha it is 'us' that do everything
and submerge and become one with The Creator and Doer.

ਬ�ਹਮ ਿਗਆਨੀ ਸਭ ਿਸ�ਸਿਟ ਕਾ ਕਰਤਾ ॥

breham giaanee sabh srisatt kaa karathaa ||
The God-conscious being is the Creator of all the world.

ਬ�ਹਮ ਿਗਆਨੀ ਸਦ ਜੀਵੈ ਨਹੀ ਮਰਤਾ ॥

breham giaanee sadh jeevai nehee marathaa ||
The God-conscious being lives forever, and does not die. (And 273, SGGS Ji)

This way, everything that Creator has created becomes his own and becomes the owner of
unexplainable happiness and bliss.

TRANSLATION BY DAAS PRABHJOT SINGH

(PRABH.SINGH@GMAIL.COM, PJS AT SIKHSANGAT.COM)

Digitally signed by PrabhjotSingh

DN: cn=PrabhjotSingh, o, ou=pjs @ sikhsangat
forums, email=prabh.singh@gmail.com, c=GB
Date: 2010.01.11 12:44:47 +05'30'