Continued From:
Mortals can keep ignoring ‘Death’.
Can they stop it? Can they defy it? They cannot confront it, why? Kabeer
Ji answers in following words:
कालु अहेरी फिरै
बधिक
जिउ
कहहु
कवन
बिधि
कीजै
॥१॥
(Death,
like a hunter, a butcher, is on the prowl; tell me, what can we do?)
‘Death’ is like a hunter, a butcher
who is on prowl as said. A hunter is well equipped to tackle the escape of his
prey. So, no matter mortal does, how smart he is at the end nothing will come
to rescue.
What hunter does? It lays trap for its
prey. If a prey is lucky, he may escape but that only happens in forests, not
in the world mortal live. If ‘Death’ has to come and it will come
to all, no one can dodge it since a mortal is born with his death already
ordained as said by Dhan Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in following words:
सभना मरणा आइआ वेछोड़ा सभनाह ॥
(Death comes to all, and all must suffer separation.)
मरणु लिखाइ मंडल महि आए ॥
(With
their death
already ordained, mortals come into this world.)
जो आंजै सो दीसै कालि ॥
(See
that whoever has come is subject to death.)
Consider the scenario, where a prey is
chased by thousands of hunter. How long can it survive? Logical mind tells no
way, there is a hope if ‘HE’ wants. How such ‘hope’
is built will be discussed later. For now let us just focus on situation a prey
sourrounded by thousands of ‘blood thirsty hunters’. Well, the answer has to be
‘No’.
And Kabeer
Ji describes the same in following words:
लाख अहेरी एकु जीउ केता बंचउ कालु ॥५३॥
(Thousands of hunters are chasing
after the soul; how long can it escape death?)
Well, a single soul and thousands
chasing it. How long a single lone warrior can resists thousands. It is a
battle field, where lone warrior is fighting to survive. Some moment he will
surely succumb. And once it happens, he will be torn apart. The ‘Death’
will feel like a butcher, an arrogant butcher. That’s what Dhan Guru Nanak Dev Ji
describes ‘Death’ in following words:
जगतु पसू अहं कालु कसाई ॥
(The
world is a beast, and arrogant Death is the butcher.)
‘Death’ is arrogant since
it does not care about individual. It does not respect age. It is just hungry
like a hungry fisherman who has set up nets, trap, to catch the fish as
described by Dhan Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in following words:
नानक इहु जीउ मछुली झीवरु त्रिसना कालु ॥
(O
Nanak, this soul is the fish, and death is the hungry fisherman.)
There is uncertainity
which sourrounds ‘The End’. Who can predict when ‘The End’ will approach? Dhan
Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji says following:
ਮਰਣਿ ਨ ਮੂਰਤੁ ਪੁਛਿਆ ਪੁਛੀ ਥਿਤਿ ਨ ਵਾਰੁ ॥[8]
मरणि न मूरतु पुछिआ पुछी थिति न वारु ॥
(Death
does not ask the time; it does not ask the date or the day of the week.)
‘Death’ is universal concept. It is
present wherever an individual goes. It chases him from all direction. And no
individual is safe. Infact every house has seen near or dear one dying. There
is no house which is left out of ‘Death’s’ grip. Same is being said by
Kabeer Ji and Shaikh Farid Ji in following words:
चहु दिस पसरिओ है जम जेवरा ॥१॥ रहाउ ॥
(On
all four sides, Death
has spread his net.)
अजराईलु फरेसता कै घरि नाठी अजु ॥६८॥
(In
which house will the Messenger of Death be a guest today?)
By the grace of Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
we got an insight why mortals cannot escape it. So we look into the next
question what is its nature. One insight so far is ‘Death’ is arrogant and
brutal like butcher. Kabeer Ji says following:
आए कठिन दूत जम लेना ॥
(The
hard-hearted Messenger
of Death has come to take you away.)
There can be uncountable ways an
individual can die, but one thing is sure from above words and that is our
belief of ‘Yamdoots – The Messenger of Death’. So they do exist and they are
hard hearted. What does it mean? It means they don’t care what an individual is
going thru during last moments, what is his age, how does he look? They have
just one thing to do. Dhan Shri Guru Arjan Dev Ji further
says following about ‘Messenger of Death’:
जमदूत महा भइआन ॥
(The
Messenger of Death is
dreadful and horrible.)
भै भइआनक जमदूत दुतर है माइआ ॥
(The
Messenger of
Death is terrifying and horrendous, and sea of Maya is impassable.)
They are horrible or dreadful, does it
mean they look horrible? Are they scary well how can any mortal describe them?
But one thing is sure the way they pounce on individual, as per our
understanding so far as per ‘Gurbaani’, they are merciless hence
they are horrible. They leave no opportunity to humiliate and thrash an
individual as per following words by Dhan Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji:
जमु सिरि मारे करे खुआरा ॥
(The
Messenger of
Death smashes his head and humiliates him.)
They hit so hard with their club that no
living being can endure it as said by Kabeer Ji in following words:
कबीर जम का ठेंगा बुरा है ओहु नही सहिआ जाइ ॥
(Kabeer,
Death's club is terrible; it cannot be endured.)
Dhan Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
also refers ‘Death’ as ‘Tax Collector’ in following words.
जमु जागाति नाही करु लागै जिसु अगनि बुझी ठरु सीना हे ॥५॥
(Death,
the tax collector, does not impose any tax on one whose inner fire has been put
out, whose heart is cool and tranquil.)
Tax collectors through out the
civlizations have enjoyed ‘negative reputation’, simply because they are
atrocious. They will go to any limits to ensure tax is collected. They will harass
masses and will never have pity even if people don’t have sufficient funds to
pay the taxes. As per Guruji similar is the nature of ‘Death’ and that should be
quite evident so far as per ‘Gurbaani’. But what kind of tax ‘Death’
collects. This is not part of this discussion but as per ‘Gurbaani’ the five sins
(anger, lust, greed, attachment, ego) are the taxes.
Well, the way ‘Death’ is projected by ‘Gurbaani’
can scare anyone. It should pierce the heart and mind of every individual. Again
the purpose is not to scare people with their end so that they close their
hearts and take themselves to ‘Lower Mental State’. The purpose is
to make people aware so that they try to find out what can be done to escape
from such ‘Terrifying and Horredous’ end. If dying would have been so
terrifying why Kabeer Ji would ever say following:
कबीर
जिसु मरने ते जगु डरै मेरे मनि आनंदु ॥
(Kabeer,
the world is afraid of death - that death fills my mind with bliss.)
That is quite interesting, how ‘Death’
so scary can give bliss to an individual. ‘Death’s’ nature is to tear apart the
living being and how such pain can make someone to feel ‘bliss’. Well, Dhan Shri
Guru Nanak Dev Ji says in following word which offers ‘hope –
a rescue from grip of Death’:
कूड़ु मारे कालु उछाहाड़ा ॥
(Death
viciously kills the false beings.)
So, there is a hope and it becomes
important to understand how ‘Death’ treats false and true people.
What is false and what is true in context of ‘Death’? This will give
deeper and wider insight about nature of ‘Death’. The answers to all questions
will be seeked further in light of Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
TO BE CONTINUED!
[1]
Raag Dhanshree Bani Bhagat Kabir Ji Ki – Ang 692 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[2]
Sorath Mehla 1 Ghar 1 Chaupadee – Ang 595 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[3]
Maroo Mehla 1 – Ang 1022 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[4]
Bilaval Ashtpadeeyan Mehla 1 Ghar 10 – Ang 831 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[5]
Salok Bhagat Kabir Ji Ke – Ang 1367 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[6]
Raamkali Mehla 1 Dakhni Ongkaar – Ang 932 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[7]
Mehla 1 – Ang 955 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[8]
Salok Mehla 1 – Ang 1244 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[9]
Raag Sorath Baani Bhagat Kabir Ji Ki Ghar 1 – Ang 654 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib
Ji
[10]
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[11]
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[12]
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[13]
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[14]
Maroo Mehla 1 – Ang 1026 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[15]
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[16]
Maroo Mehla 1 – Ang 1028 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[17] Salok
Bhagat Kabeer Ji Ke – Ang 1365 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
[18]
Maroo Mehla 1 – Ang 1025 Dhan Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
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