Japji Sahib Pauree 6
- Jan 22
- 3 min read
Japji Sahib Pauree 6
The Insufficiency of Praise • The Vastness Beyond Words • An IFS-Aligned Teaching
Original Gurmukhi
ਤੇਰੀ ਕੀਮਤਿ ਕਹਿ ਨ ਸਕੇ ॥
ਜੇ ਕੋ ਕਹੈ ਪਿਛੈ ਪਛੋਤਾਏ ॥
ਹੋਵੈ ਸਹਸਾ ਗੁਣਾ ਸਰੀਰੁ ॥
ਗੁਣ ਕੇ ਗਾਹਕ ਗੁਣੀ ਅਧਾਰੁ ॥
ਤੁਧੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਨੋ ਲਗੈ ਭਾਉ ॥
ਸਚਿ ਨਾਮਿ ਲਗੈ ਸਹਜਿ ਸੁਭਾਉ ॥
ਕਹਣਿ ਸੁਣਣਿ ਕਾ ਲੇਖਾ ਹੋਇ ॥
ਲੇਖਾ ਹੋਇ ਤ ਲਿਖੀਐ ਸਚਿ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਗਿਆਨਿ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਬੁਝਿ ਹੋਇ ॥੬॥
Transliteration
Tayree keemat keh na sakay.
Jay ko kahai pichhai pachhotaa-ay.
Hovai sahsaa guna sareer.
Gun kay gaahak gunee adhaar.
TuDh naavai no lagai bhaa-o.
Sach naam lagai sahj subhaa-o.
Kehan sunan kaa laykhaa ho-ay.
Laykhaa ho-ay ta likhee-ai sach.
Nanak gi-aan gi-aan bujh ho-ay.
English Translation (Sikh-Accurate)
Your worth cannot be spoken.
Whoever tries only regrets their attempt.
Even if one’s body were filled with thousands of virtues,
only the truly virtuous can appreciate virtue.
Love awakens through Your Name.
Through the True Name, natural poise arises.
Speaking and listening can be counted,
but the true account is written only in Truth.
Says Nanak:
Real wisdom is the understanding of wisdom itself.
Sacred Commentary (Devotional, Clear, Non-Didactic)
Pauree 6 continues the tender dismantling of ego
that began in the earlier verses.
Guru Nanak opens with a profound truth:
The Infinite cannot be captured by words.
Not even praise can hold the One.
This is not to belittle devotion.
It is to protect it.
Because when we try to “explain” the Divine,
we shrink what is vast.
When we try to measure the Infinite,
we become smaller in the attempt.
Pauree 6 tells us:
You cannot speak your way into Truth.
You can only grow in the direction of Truth.
The Guru then reveals something subtle:
Even if a person is filled with a thousand virtues,
only a heart rooted in virtue can recognize virtue.
This is the law of resonance:
We perceive what we are aligned with.
When the heart orients toward the Divine,
toward Naam, the sustaining vibration,
something shifts:
Love arrives on its own.
Poise becomes natural.
Authenticity becomes effortless.
And then Guru Nanak closes with a whisper:
Real understanding is not the accumulation of knowledge.
Real understanding is waking up to what understanding truly is.
Wisdom is not content.
Wisdom is capacity.
The IFS Lens (Alignment with Self-Energy Without Forcing Belief)
IFS offers a beautiful mirror for Pauree 6:
Self-energy cannot be described, only experienced.
You cannot “speak” your way into Self.
You can only open toward it.
Parts often try to “think” or “perform” their way into healing:
“This time I’ll get it right.”
“This time I’ll be spiritual enough.”
“This time I’ll understand.”
Pauree 6 gently meets these protectors and says:
“You don’t have to earn wisdom.
You only have to make space for it.”
Exiles often hear this verse differently:
Some feel a deep yearning,
a hunger to be seen,
to be loved,
to belong.
Others feel skeptical:
“How could wisdom arise in me?”
Both responses are welcome.
In IFS terms:
Virtue recognizing virtue is Self recognizing its own presence.
Love awakening through Naam mirrors how warmth awakens when protectors soften.
Poise arising naturally echoes unblending, when the system reorganizes around calmness and clarity.
Pauree 6 invites the reader not into striving,
but into receptivity.
Trauma-Informed Practice (Curiosity-Only • Non-Directive)
Settle in whatever way feels supportive.
You do not need to change your breathing or posture.
Bring the heart of Pauree 6 into the room:
“The Infinite cannot be contained.
Wisdom grows by opening, not by forcing.”
Let this idea rest beside you, not as something to accept,
but as something simply present.
Notice what arises in your system.
Perhaps ease.
Perhaps pressure.
Perhaps longing.
Perhaps numbness.
All responses belong.
Turn toward the part that reacts first.
Not to correct it, only to understand it.
You may gently explore:
“How do you feel hearing that wisdom cannot be forced?”
“What feels comforting or uncomfortable about that?”
“Does anything in you soften, or brace, when told it doesn’t have to earn anything?”
If it feels safe, let the part express itself
through sensations, emotions, images, or silence.
There is no right way to respond.
Nothing needs to be resolved right now.
This is the practice.
Closing Reflection (Poetic, Grounded, Inclusive)
Pauree 6 is an exhale.
It loosens the grip of perfectionism.
It dissolves the fantasy that more effort
will finally make you “enough.”
It reassures you:
The One does not need your praise to be vast.
And you do not need achievement to be worthy.
Wisdom is not a possession.
It is a posture.
A way of standing open
in the presence of what is greater than you,
and yet somehow, deeply within you.
Pauree 6 invites you to rest
in the spaciousness of what cannot be measured,
and to discover that wisdom begins
the moment striving ends.
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