Observations placeholder
Guru Granth - Bilaval 01
Identifier
017091
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A raga - is a complex structure of musical melody used in Indian classical music. It is a set of rules of how to build a melody which can ignite a certain mood in the reciter and listeners. The Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, is composed in and divided by 31 ragas.
Bilawal - is a raga and basic thaat (musical mode) in Hindustani classical music. It is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode (major scale) and contains the notes S R G m P D N S'. The pitches of Bilawal thaat are all shuddha, or natural. Flat (komal) or sharp (tivra) of pitches always occurs with reference to the interval pattern in Bilawal thaat.
Bilawal is the sixteenth raga to appear in the series. The composition in this raga appear on a total of 64 pages from page numbers 795 to 859. What has been included here is thus only a small excerpt
Bilawal is a "morning raga to be sung with a feeling of deep devotion and repose", often performed during the hot months.
Shabad - is a hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture
A description of the experience
Guru Granth – page 839 Bilaaval, First Mehl – the Lunar days, tenth house, to the drum beat Jat
First day
The One Universal Creator is unique, immortal, unborn
beyond social class and involvement
He is inaccessible and unfathomable
with no form or feature
Searching, searching, I have seen Him in each and every heart
I am a sacrifice to one who sees, and an inspiration to others to see Him
By Guru’s grace, I have obtained the supreme status
Whose name should I chant and meditate on, except the Lord of the Universe?
Through the Word of the Guru Shabad,
the Mansion of the Lord’s presence is revealed within the home of one’s own heart
Second day
Those who are in love with one another, come to repent and regret
They are tied up at Death’s door and continue coming and going
What have they brought and what will they take with them when they go?
The Messenger of Death looms over their heads and they endure his beating
Without the Word of the Guru’s Shabad, no one finds release.
Practising hypocrisy, no one finds liberation.
The True Lord himself created the universe, joining the Elements together
Breaking the Cosmic Egg, He united and separated
He made the Earth and the sky into places to live
He created Day and Night, fear and love
The One who created the Creation, also watches over it.
There is no other creator Lord.
Third Day
He created Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva,
the gods and goddesses and various manifestations
The lights and forms cannot be counted
The One who fashioned them knows their value
He evaluates them and totally pervades them
Who is close and who is far away?
Fourth Day
He created the four vedas, the four sources of creation
and distinct forms of speech.
He created the eighteen puranas, the six shastras
and the three qualities.
He alone understands, whom the Lord causes to understand
One who overcomes the three qualities, dwells in the fourth state
Prays Nanak,
I am his slave
Fifth Day
The five elements are demons
The Lord himself is unfathomable and detached
Some are gripped by doubt, hunger, emotional attachment and desire
Some taste the sublime essence of the Shabad and are satisfied
Some are imbued with the Lord’s Love,
while some die and are reduced to dust
Some attain the Court and the Mansion of the True Lord
and behold Him, ever present
The false one has no honour or fame;
like the black crow, he never becomes pure
He is like the bird, imprisoned in a cage;
He paces back and forth behind bars,
but he is not released
He alone is emancipated whom the Lord and Master emancipates
He follows the Guru’s teachings
and enshrines devotional worship
Sixth day
God organised the six systems of yoga
The unstruck sound current of Shabad vibrates of itself
If God wills it, then one is summoned to the Mansion of his presence
One who is pierced through by the Shabad, obtains honour
Those who wear religious robes burn, and are ruined.
Through Truth, the truthful ones merge into the True Lord.
Seventh Day
When the body is imbued with Truth and contentment
the seven seas within are filled with the Immaculate Water
Bathing in good conduct
and contemplating the True Lord within the heart
one obtains the Word of the Guru’s Shabad and carries everything across
With the True Lord in mind
and the True Lord lovingly on one’s lips
one is blessed with the banner of Truth
and meets with no obstacles.
Eighth Day
The eight miraculous powers come when one subdues his own mind
and contemplates the True Lord through pure actions
Forget the three qualities of Wind, Water and Fire
Concentrate on the pure True Name
That human who remains lovingly focused on the Lord, prays Nanak
shall not be consumed by death.
Ninth Day
The Name is the supreme almighty Master of the nine masters of Yoga,
the nine realms of the earth
and each and every heart.
This whole world is the child of Maya.
I bow in submission to God, my protector from the very beginning of time
He was in the beginning
He has been through the ages,
He is now and He shall always be
He is unlimited and capable of doing everything
The source of the experience
SikhismConcepts, symbols and science items
Concepts
AirChakras
Contrast
Created
Creator
Earth
Egg
Elements
Fire
Form
Function
god
God
Higher spirit
Intelligence hierarchy
Light
Mansions of the Moon
Purification
Reincarnation
Spiritual path
Trimurti
Ultimate Intelligence
Water
Where is heaven