Japji Sahib Pauree 37

Japji Sahib Pauree 37

Original Gurmukhi

ਸਚਾ ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਇ ਭਾਖਿਆ ਭਾਉ ਅਪਾਰੁ ॥

ਆਖਹਿ ਮੰਗਹਿ ਦੇਹਿ ਦੇਹਿ ਦਾਤਿ ਕਰੇ ਦਾਤਾਰੁ ॥

ਫੇਰਿ ਕਿ ਅਗੈ ਰਖੀਐ ਜਿਤੁ ਦਿਸੈ ਦਰਬਾਰੁ ॥

ਮੁਹੌ ਕਿ ਬੋਲਣੁ ਬੋਲੀਐ ਜਿਤੁ ਸੁਣਿ ਧਰੇ ਪਿਆਰੁ ॥

ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਵੇਲਾ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਉ ਵਡਿਆਈ ਵੀਚਾਰੁ ॥

ਕਰਮੀ ਆਵੈ ਕਪੜਾ ਨਦਰੀ ਮੋਖੁ ਦੁਆਰੁ ॥

ਨਾਨਕ ਏਵੈ ਜਾਣੀਐ ਸਭੁ ਆਪੇ ਸਚਿਆਰੁ ॥੩੭॥

---

Transliteration

Sacẖā sāhib sacẖ nāe bẖākẖi▫ā bẖāo apār.

Ākẖahi mangahi ḏeh ḏeh ḏāṯ kare ḏāṯār.

Fer kė agai rakẖī▫ai jiṯ ḏisai ḏarbār.

Muhau kė bolaṇ bolī▫ai jiṯ suṇ ḏẖare pi▫ār.

Amriṯ velā sacẖ nāo vadi▫ā▫ī vīcẖār.

Karmī āvai kapṛā naḏrī mokẖ ḏu▫ār.

Nānak evai jāṇī▫ai sabẖ āpe sacẖiār.

---

Straight Meaning (Sikh-accurate)

Guru Nanak teaches:

The True Master, the True Name, is spoken with boundless love.

People ask, beg, and plead.

The Giver keeps giving without end.

What offering can we place before the Divine

that would allow us to see the royal court?

What words can we speak

that will make the Beloved listen with love?

In the ambrosial hour, remember the True Name

and contemplate the greatness.

By our actions, we receive the robe of this human life.

By Divine grace, the door of liberation opens.

Nanak says: know this, the One is True in all.

---

Sacred Commentary

Pauree 37 is one of the crown jewels of Japji Sahib.

It begins in awe and ends in realization.

“The True Master, the True Name, spoken with boundless love.”

Nanak places love before doctrine,

devotion before theology,

relationship before ritual.

People ask endlessly, for comfort, for abundance, for protection, and the Giver keeps giving.

The Infinite does not tire.

Then Nanak asks the heart-shaking question:

“What can we offer the One who needs nothing?”

Not wealth.

Not ritual.

Not perfection.

What opens the court of the Divine?

What makes the Infinite listen with love?

The next line reveals the answer:

“In the ambrosial hour, remember the Name

and contemplate divine greatness.”

“Ambrosial hour” does not only mean early morning.

It is the inner moment when the mind is soft,

the heart unclenches,

and Self-energy rises like dawn.

Then Nanak brings us to the interplay of effort and grace:

“By our actions, we receive this garment of life.”

Action matters.

Choices shape the texture of our journey.

But action alone is not the doorway.

“By grace, the door of liberation opens.”

This is humility.

This is surrender.

This is the recognition that awakening is received, not conquered.

And the pauree ends with the radiant truth:

The One is True in all.Everywhere.Always.

---

IFS Lens

Pauree 37 speaks directly to the inner system:

• “The True Name spoken with boundless love” → Self-energy arises not through force, but through warmth and openness.

• “People beg endlessly, and the Giver keeps giving” → resembles parts constantly asking for safety, control, reassurance, and Self’s capacity to respond again and again.

• “What can we offer?” → parts often believe they must earn worthiness. Nanak dissolves that burden.

• “What words make the Beloved listen with love?” → in IFS, it is not perfect language, but sincerity and connection that move the system.

• “Remembering the Name in the ambrosial hour” → returning to Self-energy at the moments when protectors relax.

• “By our actions we receive this robe of life” → actions matter. They shape the internal landscape.

• “Grace opens the door” → transformation comes through internal readiness, not pressure.

• “The One is True in all” → Self exists beneath every part, no matter how burdened.

This pauree is the IFS truth in Sikh language:

Healing is both participation and surrender,

effort and grace,

devotion and spaciousness.

---

Trauma-Informed Practice (Curiosity Only)

As you sit with this pauree, gently explore:

• Is there a part of me that feels it must earn love or worthiness?

• Is there a part that keeps asking, asking, asking, and fears it is “too much”?

• What is it like to imagine that the Giver never tires of giving?

• Does a part soften at the idea of an “ambrosial hour” inside me?

• How does my system respond to the idea that grace, not perfection, opens the door?

  
  

Allow everything that arises.

This is the practice.

---

Closing Reflection

Pauree 37 is a bridge

between yearning and realization.

It tells you:

You do not need to impress the Infinite.

You do not need to perfect yourself for love.

You do not need to earn the right to be seen.

The Divine listens through love.

Self-energy rises through softness.

Liberation opens through grace.

May this pauree remind every part of you

that you already live inside a Love

that has never once stopped giving.