Japji Sahib Pauree 31
- Jan 22
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 26
Japji Sahib Pauree 31
Original Gurmukhi
ਮੰਨੇ ਕੀ ਗਤਿ ਕਹੀ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਜੇ ਕੋ ਕਹੈ ਪਿਛੈ ਪਛੁਤਾਇ ॥
ਕਾਗਦਿ ਕਲਮ ਨ ਲਿਖਣਹਾਰੁ ॥
ਮੰਨੇ ਕਾ ਬਹਿ ਕਰਨਿ ਵੀਚਾਰੁ ॥
ਐਸਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਨਿਰੰਜਨੁ ਹੋਇ ॥
ਜੇ ਕੋ ਮੰਨਿ ਜਾਣੈ ਮਨਿ ਕੋਇ ॥੩੧॥
Transliteration
Mannai kī gaṯ kahī na jāe.
Je ko kahai pichhai pachhṯāe.
Kāgaḏ kalam na likẖaṇhār.
Mannai kā beh karaṇ vīchār.
Aisā nām nirañjan hoe.
Je ko mann jāṇai man koe.
Straight Meaning (Sikh-Accurate)
Guru Nanak teaches:
The state of one who truly trusts (mannai) cannot be spoken.
Whoever tries to describe it will regret the attempt.
No paper, no pen, no writer can capture it.
To contemplate the experience of such a heart is to sit in wonder.
Such is the nature of the Pure, Stainless Name.
Whoever realizes it does so in the depths of their own mind and heart.
Sacred Commentary
Pauree 31 is the mystical hinge of the mannai sequence, the moment where Guru Nanak draws a clear boundary between description and realization.
He is not discouraging reflection.
He is protecting the sacred from being flattened.
“The state of trust cannot be described.”
This trust is not intellectual agreement or emotional comfort.
It is a shift in being, a realignment so intimate and subtle that language collapses when it tries to hold it.
“Whoever tries will regret it.”
Not because speaking is forbidden,
but because words will always fall short,
and the speaker will feel the loss of what cannot be captured.
“No pen, no paper, no writer can record it.”
The transformation of inner trust is not a concept.
It is an experience, a resonance that lives in bone, breath, and awareness.
“To even contemplate such a state is to sit in wonder.”
This pauree invites reverence, not explanation.
“Such is the Pure Name.”
The Divine, the Truth, the Infinite cannot be reduced.
It can only be realized.
And realization happens not through instruction,
but through awakening in one’s own heart.
The IFS Lens
In Internal Family Systems, Pauree 31 mirrors the ineffability of Self-energy.
The Self-led state cannot be fully described.
No technique or model can capture its essence.
When a part experiences deep trust in Self, the shift is beyond language.
Insight becomes embodied rather than conceptual.
Attempts to articulate it can feel clumsy, incomplete, or even disappointing.
IFS teaches that Self-energy is known through felt presence, calm, curiosity, compassion, clarity, courage, creativity, connectedness, confidence.
But these qualities are only signposts, not definitions.
Guru Nanak says the same.
The state of the trusting heart must be realized, not taught.
Trauma-Informed Practice (Curiosity Only)
As you sit with this pauree, gently explore:
Is there a part of me that longs for an experience beyond words?
Is there a part that becomes tense when things cannot be explained or controlled?
What arises when I imagine a state that words cannot hold?
Is there a part that hopes for such trust?
Is there a part that feels skeptical or guarded about it?
All responses, longing, resistance, numbness, awe, are wisdom.
Let your system meet this pauree without pressure.
This is the practice.
Closing Reflection
Pauree 31 is a bow to the mystery, a recognition that the deepest truths cannot be spoken, summarized, or contained.
Some aspects of awakening can only be known by living them.
Some forms of trust can only be recognized from within.
Some movements of the soul are felt like moonlight, not taught like doctrine.
May your inner world feel the spaciousness of this pauree.
May your parts be freed from the burden of “needing to understand.”
And may you sense, even faintly, the shimmering truth Nanak points toward,
the truth that lives in the quiet center of your own being.