Part 36 — Japji Sahib: Countless tongues..
Pauri 32: Countless tongues still aren’t enough — only grace breaks the ego of spiritual counting
Where we are in Japji
Pauri 31 reminded us that the True One’s work is not fragile: world after world is held within Divine care.
Now Pauri 32 turns the knife toward a subtler problem: even Naam repetition can become ego if the mind treats quantity as achievement. Japji is not attacking remembrance. It is attacking boastful self-reliance.
Full pauri (Gurmukhi + Romanisation + Ang)
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji — Ang 7
Gurmukhi
ਇਕ ਦੂ ਜੀਭੌ ਲਖ ਹੋਹਿ ਲਖ ਹੋਵਹਿ ਲਖ ਵੀਸ ॥
ਲਖੁ ਲਖੁ ਗੇੜਾ ਆਖੀਅਹਿ ਏਕੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਗਦੀਸ ॥
ਏਤੁ ਰਾਹਿ ਪਤਿ ਪਵੜੀਆ ਚੜੀਐ ਹੋਇ ਇਕੀਸ ॥
ਸੁਣਿ ਗਲਾ ਆਕਾਸ ਕੀ ਕੀਟਾ ਆਈ ਰੀਸ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਨਦਰੀ ਪਾਈਐ ਕੂੜੀ ਕੂੜੈ ਠੀਸ ॥੩੨॥
Romanisation (learning aid)
ik doo jeebhou lakh hohi lakh hoveh lakh vees ||
lakhu lakhu gera aakhee-ah ek naam jagdees ||
et raahi pat pavaree-aa charhee-ai hoi ikees ||
sun gala akaas kee keetaa aa-ee rees ||
naanak nadaree paa-ee-ai koorhee koorhai thees ||32||
Plain-English sense rendering
(A learning aid — not a “final translation.”)
Even if I had countless tongues, multiplied again and again, and with them repeated the Name of the One Lord over and over — that still would not mean I had “secured” the Divine.
On this path, the steps are climbed only by becoming one — by losing self-importance, not by increasing spiritual quantity.
Otherwise, it is like worms hearing about the sky and becoming ambitious to reach it.
Nanak: the One is obtained by Nadar — by grace.
Without that, the boasting of the false remains false.
Learning focus
1) Japji is not anti-simran — it is anti-counting as ego
This pauri does not say remembrance is useless.
It says that mere multiplication — more tongues, more rounds, more counting — does not by itself break ego. If someone thinks they can reach the Divine purely by their own counted effort, that is still false self-importance.
2) The real “steps” are inward
The crucial line is: “ਏਤੁ ਰਾਹਿ ਪਤਿ ਪਵੜੀਆ ਚੜੀਐ ਹੋਇ ਇਕੀਸ ॥”
Climbing the steps only by becoming one, by dropping aapaa-bhaav — self-assertion and ego-separateness. So the path upward is not arithmetic. It is surrender.
3) Spiritual ambition can still be childish
The worm-and-sky image is not there to insult people. It is there to expose fantasy.
Hearing about high spiritual states can make the ego ambitious. But ambition is not ascent. Without inner change, the desire to “reach high” stays immature.
4) Grace is the final correction
The pauri closes where Japji keeps bringing us back: Nadar.
The One is obtained by grace — not because effort is irrelevant, but because effort without humility turns into spiritual boasting.
Key word reminders
Naam: Reality remembered until it reshapes character, not a slogan or scorecard.
Nadar: gracious glance; grace that opens what ego cannot force.
Koorh: falsehood, distortion, ego-built unreality.
Hoi ikees: becoming one; dropping self-importance and self-claim.
One Anchor
Counted repetition is not the same as surrender.
10-second practice
For ten seconds, ask:
Where am I turning spiritual effort into a private achievement?
Then ask the harder question:
Am I trying to reach the sky while still crawling with the same ego?
Pause once. Remember Naam once. And let that act be clean — not counted for display.
Verify
SGGS location: Ang 7 (Japji Sahib, Pauri 32)
Pauri begins: “ਇਕ ਦੂ ਜੀਭੌ ਲਖ ਹੋਹਿ ਲਖ ਹੋਵਹਿ ਲਖ ਵੀਸ ॥”
Pauri ends: “ਨਾਨਕ ਨਦਰੀ ਪਾਈਐ ਕੂੜੀ ਕੂੜੈ ਠੀਸ ॥੩੨॥”
Cross-check instruction:
Open Ang 7 on two independent SGGS databases and compare the Gurmukhi character-for-character.
Confirm that:
Pauri 31 ends immediately before with ॥੩੧॥
Pauri 32 contains these five lines exactly
Pauri 33 begins immediately after with “ਆਖਣਿ ਜੋਰੁ…”
If you ever spot a mismatch (Gurmukhi, Romanisation, or Ang), I will correct it publicly and calmly.
Next post teaser
Next is Pauri 33 (Part 37) — and Japji takes us into one of its sharpest corrections of ego:
No power to speak. No power to keep silent. No power to give. No power to take.
Everything we boast about starts to collapse — and what remains is the One in whose hand true power rests.