Japji Sahib Pauree 16
- Dec 25, 2025
- 3 min read
Japji Sahib Pauree 16
The Boundless Rewards of Trust • The Soul Enters Vastness • An IFS-Aligned Teaching
1. Original Gurmukhi
ਮੰਨੈ ਪਉਣੁ ਪਾਣੀ ਭੈ ਸੰਤੋਖੁ ॥
ਮੰਨੈ ਧਰਤਿ ਧਰਮੁ ਸੰਜਮੁ ਦੋਖੁ ॥
ਮੰਨੈ ਸੂਰੁ ਸੁਰਤਿ ਬੁਧਿ ਮੰਨਿ ॥
ਮੰਨੈ ਮਗੁ ਨ ਚਲੈ ਪੰਥੁ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਭਗਤਾ ਸਦਾ ਵਿਗਾਸੁ ॥
ਮੰਨੈ ਦੂਖ ਪਾਪ ਕਾ ਨਾਸੁ ॥੧੬॥
2. Transliteration
Mannai pa-un pāṇī bhai santokh.
Mannai dharat dharam sanjam dokh.
Mannai sūr surat buḏh mann.
Mannai mag na chalai panth.
Nanak bhagtā sadā vigās.
Mannai dūkh pāp kā nās. ॥16॥
3. Straight, Clear Meaning (Sikh-Accurate)
By living in deep trust, one realizes the sacred order
of air, water, and fearlessness, and finds contentment.
By living in trust, one sees righteousness, discipline,
and restraint woven into the fabric of life.
By living in trust, one gains clarity, wisdom, and understanding
By living in trust, one walks the true path naturally.
Guru Nanak teaches:
Those who live in trust always flourish
for trust dissolves suffering and the weight of past wrongdoing.
4. Sacred Commentary
Devotional, Clear, Non-Didactic
Pauree 16 reveals the vast spiritual landscape that opens when the soul learns to trust.
Here, Guru Nanak shows that trust does not only transform the inner world.
It transforms how we see the outer world.
Air, water, fearlessness, contentment, these are not just elements or emotions.
They are symbols of a universe operating in harmony.
Trust lets the soul perceive this harmony.
Righteousness, discipline, restraint,
not moral rules,
but the natural order running through creation.
Trust lets the soul feel aligned with this order.
Clarity, wisdom, understanding, not acquired through effort,
but emerging effortlessly when the heart is settled.
This Pauree is the moment the seeker realizes:
The world is not chaotic.
It is ordered.
It is coherent.
It is trustworthy.
Trust becomes the bridge between inner calm
and the vast sacredness woven into everything.
5. The IFS Lens
Alignment with Self-Energy Without Forcing Belief
In IFS, when parts trust Self-energy,
they begin to recognize an inner order that was always there
but previously obscured by fear.
A protector may notice:“There are deeper resources within me.”
An exile may sense:“I am held in something larger than my pain.”
A firefighter may discover:“I no longer need to react to survive.”
This creates:
Contentment, the system relaxes from hypervigilance.
Righteousness, inner coherence replaces chaos.
Discipline and restraint, not forced, but the natural effect of clarity.
Wisdom and understanding, the fruits of an unblended, spacious mind.
Pauree 16 expresses what happens
when the entire internal system reorganizes around trust:
Everything begins to make sense.
Not because the world changes,
but because perception becomes aligned with Truth.
6. Trauma-Informed Practice
Curiosity-Only • Non-Directive
If it feels comfortable,
allow your body to settle in any form that brings ease.
There is no required emotional response.
Bring the heart of Pauree 16 gently into the space:
“Trust reveals harmony.
Trust creates contentment.
Trust clarifies perception.
Trust opens the true path.”
Let these words exist without needing to be believed.
Notice what arises, softness, resistance, numbness, curiosity, or nothing at all.
Every response is welcome.
Turn toward the part that responds first.
Not to change it, only to be with it.
You may ask:
“What is it like to imagine an inner order beneath everything?
“What feels true or untrue about contentment emerging from trust?”
“How does your system respond to the idea of wisdom arising naturally?”
If it feels safe, allow the part to express whatever is present, sensations, images, thoughts, silence.
You may also explore:
“What would it be like if harmony wasn’t something to create,
but something already present beneath the noise?”
This is not about believing the Pauree.
It is about letting the part feel seen as it meets these ideas in its own timing.
This is the practice.
7. Closing Reflection
Poetic, Grounded, Inclusive
Pauree 16 is the widening horizon of trust.
It says:
“When you trust, you begin to see the sacred structure of the world,
not just within you, but around you.”
Contentment rises like breath.
Discipline becomes the natural flow of alignment.
Wisdom shines without strain.
The path becomes clear.
Nothing is forced.
Nothing is demanded.
Trust simply reveals what was always there.
May this Pauree remind you that beneath the noise and fear and confusion,
your life is already held in a deeper order,
one that unfolds as you learn to trust.
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