Part 29 — Japji Sahib: The Great Giver
Pauri 25: The Great Giver, the danger of forgetting, and the highest gift
Where we are in Japji
Pauri 24 ended with Nadar and Daat — grace and gift.
Pauri 25 stays with that theme, but makes it more unsettling: the One gives endlessly, people ask endlessly, many receive and still deny, some suffer hunger and blows, and even there Japji still speaks in the language of gift, Bhaanai, and final release through praise.
Full pauri (Gurmukhi + Romanisation + Ang)
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji — Ang 5
Gurmukhi
ਬਹੁਤਾ ਕਰਮੁ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਨਾ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਵਡਾ ਦਾਤਾ ਤਿਲੁ ਨ ਤਮਾਇ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਮੰਗਹਿ ਜੋਧ ਅਪਾਰ ॥
ਕੇਤਿਆ ਗਣਤ ਨਹੀ ਵੀਚਾਰੁ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਖਪਿ ਤੁਟਹਿ ਵੇਕਾਰ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਲੈ ਲੈ ਮੁਕਰੁ ਪਾਹਿ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਮੂਰਖ ਖਾਹੀ ਖਾਹਿ ॥
ਕੇਤਿਆ ਦੂਖ ਭੂਖ ਸਦ ਮਾਰ ॥
ਏਹਿ ਭਿ ਦਾਤਿ ਤੇਰੀ ਦਾਤਾਰ ॥
ਬੰਦਿ ਖਲਾਸੀ ਭਾਣੈ ਹੋਇ ॥
ਹੋਰੁ ਆਖਿ ਨ ਸਕੈ ਕੋਇ ॥
ਜੇ ਕੋ ਖਾਇਕੁ ਆਖਣਿ ਪਾਇ ॥
ਓਹੁ ਜਾਣੈ ਜੇਤੀਆ ਮੁਹਿ ਖਾਇ ॥
ਆਪੇ ਜਾਣੈ ਆਪੇ ਦੇਇ ॥
ਆਖਹਿ ਸਿ ਭਿ ਕੇਈ ਕੇਇ ॥
ਜਿਸ ਨੋ ਬਖਸੇ ਸਿਫਤਿ ਸਾਲਾਹ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੁ ॥੨੫॥
Romanisation (learning aid)
bahutaa karam likhiaa naa jaa-e ||
vadaa daataa til na tamaa-e ||
kete mangahi jodh apaar ||
ketiaa ganat nahee veechaar ||
kete khap tuteh vekaar ||
kete lai lai mukar paahi ||
kete moorakh khaahee khaahi ||
ketiaa dookh bhookh sad maar ||
ehi bh daat teree daataar ||
band khalaasee bhaanai ho-e ||
hor aakh na sakai ko-e ||
je ko khaaik aakhan paa-e ||
ohu jaanai jeteeaa muhi khaa-e ||
aape jaanai aape de-e ||
aakhahi se bh ke-ee ke-e ||
jis no bakhse sifat saalaah ||
naanak paatisaahee paatisaahu ||25||
Plain-English sense rendering
(A learning aid — not a “final translation.”)
The Divine giving is so vast it cannot be fully written down.
The Giver is great and has not even the tiniest greed.
Countless beings ask.
Countless cannot even be counted.
Some wear themselves out in corruption.
Some keep taking and then deny what they received.
Some foolishly keep consuming without remembrance.
Some live under suffering, hunger, and continual blows.
And still Japji says: even these too are within Your gift, O Giver.
Release from bondage happens in Bhaanai — in alignment with the Divine will and order.
No other true way can be named.
If some fool tries to invent another route, he alone knows how many blows he takes on the face.
The One knows and the One gives.
A few do say this.
And the one whom the Divine blesses with sifat-salaah — praise of the One — becomes, Nanak says, the king of kings.
Learning focus
1) The giving is beyond account
Japji doesn’t present the Divine as a tight-fisted giver.
It presents the giving as so vast it cannot be fully recorded.
That matters, because it breaks the small, bargaining mind.
2) Receiving is not the same as remembering
This pauri names a painful truth:
People receive — and still deny.
They take — and still refuse gratitude.
They consume — and still remain empty.
So the issue is not only what comes into your life.
It is whether you remain turned toward the Giver.
3) Release happens in alignment, not in ego-invention
“Band khalaasee bhaanai ho-e” is one of the great hinges in this pauri.
Release from bondage does not happen by spiritual self-invention.
It happens in Bhaanai — in alignment with what is real, in step with the Divine order, not with ego’s private plan.
4) The highest gift is praise itself
The pauri ends by redefining greatness.
The highest gift is not status, comfort, wealth, or control.
It is sifat-salaah — the praise that keeps the mind turned toward the One.
That is why Nanak closes so strongly:
the one blessed with this becomes patisaahi patisaahu — king of kings.
Key word reminders
Karam here is best heard as gift, grace, bounty
Daat means gift
Bhaanai means alignment with the Divine will and order
Band khalaasee means release from bondage
Sifat-salaah means praise of the One that keeps the mind turned toward truth
One Anchor
The highest gift is not what I receive — it is not forgetting the Giver.
10-second practice
For ten seconds, ask:
Where am I living as if I am self-supplied?
Where am I receiving and still denying?
Then make one small move of remembrance today:
say thank you without performance,
stop one act of grasping,
or turn one moment of complaint into praise.
Verify
SGGS location: Ang 5 (Japji Sahib, Pauri 25)
Pauri begins: "ਬਹੁਤਾ ਕਰਮੁ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਨਾ ਜਾਇ ॥"
Pauri ends: "ਨਾਨਕ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੁ ॥੨੫॥"
Cross-check instruction:
Open Ang 5 on two independent SGGS databases and compare the Gurmukhi character-for-character.
Confirm that:
Pauri 24 ends immediately before with ॥੨੪॥
Pauri 25 contains these seventeen lines exactly
Pauri 26 begins immediately after with "ਅਮੁਲ ਗੁਣ ਅਮੁਲ ਵਾਪਾਰ ॥"
If you ever spot a mismatch (Gurmukhi, Romanisation, or Ang), correct it publicly and calmly.
Next post teaser
Next is Pauri 26 (Part 30) — and Japji shifts into the language of Amul:
Priceless virtues. Priceless trade. Priceless stores. Priceless receiving.
The point is not poetry for its own sake — it is to break the habit of pricing the Infinite by worldly measures.