Guru Ram Das Ji

 

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Guru Ram Das Ji

Bhai Jetha ji or Guru Ram Das ji was believed to have been declared as successor by Guru Amar Das ji, as his daughter and Jetha’s wife Bhani was close to him, by personally putting the sandal paste on his forehead. Guru Ram Das ji was born in Chuna Mandi Lahore but he lost his parents at the age of 7 years and grew up under the care of his maternal uncle. He was born on 24 th September 1534 A.D in a Sodhi family. His grandfather Thakur Das was a well known shopkeeper of Chuma Mandi Area Lahore. His father Hari Das inherited the shopkeeper vocation from his father. As he was their eldest child, so his parents named him as Jetha. After the death of his parents his maternal grandmother took him to her village Basarke which was also ancestral village of Guru Amar Das ji. He sold boiled grams, black chickpeas (known as Ghuganian) and boiled wheat to earn his livelihood since the age of 9 years. He would sometimes meet holymen and often share his wares with them free of cost and then be scolded by his grandmother. When Guru Amar Das ji visited Basarke he was impressed by the traits of this young boy. Once he asked him to accompany him to Khadur where Guru Angad Dev ji lived. At Khadur after attending congregations he was impressed both by Guru Angad Dev ji as well as Guru Amar Das ji. He sold bakliyas ( boiled corn) at Khadur to earn his livelihood. When Guru Amar Das ji moved to Goindwal Sahib he also moved

along with him in 1552 A. D and spent most of the time in his durbar and one of the responsibility entrusted to him was that the utensils used for langar were clean and tidy and so as to ensure thorough cleaning he cleaned them himself. He was also given the role of serving drinking water in langar. He accompanied Guru Amar Das ji on his holy pilgrimages. Under his patronage he was educated in North Indian Classical Music Tradition. Before becoming Guru, he was sent by Guru Amar Das ji to represent his view point in Mughal Court as Brahmins had lodged a protest against Guru ji that he was neglecting the traditional caste divisions and social hierarchies in langar as everybody without any distinction sat on the ground to take Langar. He impressed Mughal Emperor Akbar by his reply that in the eyes of the Divine all of humankind are equal. In 1553 A. D he wedded Guru Amar Das ji’s daughter Bhani and had three sons- Prithvi Chand, Mahadev and Guru Arjan Dev ji. He is credited to have found the city of Ramdaspur, later Amritsar and beginning construction of Golden Temple and the Holy pond around it. He, along with Guru Amar Das ji, is credited with various parts of Anand and Lavan compositions in Suhi measure. He made his youngest son Arjan Dev ji as his successor and fifth Guru of Sikhism. Guru Ram Das ji has composed verses intended to be sung in Ragas like- Sri Rag, Majh Rag, Gauri, Asa, Gujri, Devgandhari, Bihagra, Vadhans, Sorath, Dhanasari, Jaitsri, Todi, Bairari, Tilanga, Bilawal, Gond, Ramkali, Nat Narayan, Mali Gaura, Maru, Tukhari, Kedara, Bhairon, Basant, Sarang, Kanara, Kalyan, Prabhati and Suhi.

Sri Raga

The day rises and then it dies into the night and then the night passes.

The age thus wears off, but the man knows not that the mouse (of time) is tearing at the rope.

He is attached like a fly to the sweet of Maya, and thus wastes his life away.

O brother, your Lord is your only friend; your attachment to your wife and sons is false;

for they keep not your company in the end.

Raga Majh

The Guru has made me Wise in the Lord; from the Lord I taste the Reality of the Real.

My mind is Imbued with the Lord’s Love, and Drinks it to its fill.

My mouth utters the Name of the Lord, and my mind is filled with utter joy.

Raga Gauri Guareri

The mother is happy when her son has had his fill.

The fish is happy when she bathes herself in water.

The True Guru is happy when his disciple is Fulfilled.

Unite us with those Your Slaves, O Dear Lord,

Meeting whom all our Sorrows depart.

Raga Asa

O Thou, the person on High, the Purest of the Pure, Infinite, Unfathomable,

O Thou, the True Creator, on whom all Meditate,

O Thou, the Beneficent Lord, all belong to You.

O Saints, Meditate on Him that all your woes may depart.

Raga Gujri

Sublime are the Lord’s Saints, Sublime is their speech.

For, when they speak for the good of all.

He, who hears them with Love and Devotion, him the Lord Saves by His Grace.

Raga Devgandhari

He who becomes the Servant of the Lord is Attuned to the Supreme Master.

He who utters the Lord’s Praise, through the Guru’s Word, his Destiny is Awakened.

His Bonds of Maya are loosed, and Attuned is he to the God’s Name.

My mind is captivated by the Guru-charmer; seeing him, I go into Ecstasy.

Raga Bihagra

O my life, Contemplate the Lord’s Name: for, Invaluable is the Name one gathers through the Guru.

My Mind is pierced through with the Name: it Loves the Name, with the Name it is washed clean.

O life, if we hold our Mind with the Instruction of the Guru, it wavers not again:

And it gathers the Fruit of your heart’s Desire; and it sings only the Lord’s Praise.

Raga Vadhans

Beauteous is my Lord: But I know not His Worth.

And have adorned Him and I am in love with other.

How shall I, the Ignorant one, then, Meet with my Lord? She who is Beloved of the Spouse

is the only True Bride, she, the Wise one, alone meets with her God .

Raga Sorath

The Lord Himself is the Balance, Himself He weighs Himself.

He Himself is the Merchant,Himself the Pedlar; Himself, He Engages men in His Trade.

He Himself Creates the Earth and weighs it with a Copper (if He so Wills).

My mind has Attained Bliss, Contemplating the Lord.

The Lord’s Name is the Treasure (of Good); it is through the Guru that it seems sweet.

Raga Dhanasari

Dwell on your Lord in your heart: Contemplate the Name of your God, the Enticer of hearts.

Your Lord is Unseen, Transcendent, Unreachable, but through the Perfect Guru, He gets Manifest.

Our God is the Philosopher’s Stone that transmutes our iron into Gold:

He is that Chandan tree that makes our Dry Wood Fragrant.

Raga Jaitshri

Praise your God with Love and utter Devotion,

That your mind is Imbued with the Lord’s Name, and you gather the Fruit;

And be ever devoted to your God: through the Guru’s Word Wells up (within you)

the Joy for the Lord’s Worship.

Raga Todi

Without the Lord, my mind does not stay:

But when, through the Guru, I meet with my God, I am cast upon the Sea of Existence again.

My Mind craves for the Lord, and lo, I see Him with mine Eyes.

The Beneficent True Guru has Embedded the Lord’s Name in my Mind;

for this is the path that led me on to Him.

Raga Bairari

The Lord’s servant ever Sings the Praise of the Lord’s Name.

And if one slanders him, he forsakes not his Merit.

Whatever happens, happens, through the Master for He, is the only Doer and the Cause.

(For) the Lord Himself Makes us Wise in Himself, and causes us to utter what we speak.

Raga Tilanga

Each day, man does vain works, and is puffed up he, the man of Evil mind.

And when he brings home the spoils of Deceit, he thinks he has won victory over the world.

Vain is the play of the world, if one Dwells not on the Lord:

For, all this vanity-show disappears in a moment: so Contemplate you, your God.

Raga Suhi

My Mind Dwells on the Lord’s Name through the Word of the Guru.

And all my Mind’s Desires are fulfilled, and the fear of the Yama is dispelled.

O my mind, Praise the Lord and the Lord’s Name, and your Guru, in his mercy,

will instruct you in the Lord’s Wisdom,and you will Drink the Essence of the Lord in Joy.

Raga Bilawal

My mind is lured away by Maya: it is full of Dirt of Vice.

And so it can Serve You not, O’ Lord: How shall I , the Ignorant one, be Saved ?

O my Mind, Dwell on your Lord, the Bewitching God of Man.

When He, the Lord, is in Mercy, one Meets with the Guru and is Ferried Across.

Raga Gond

The Lord, the Inner-knower of hearts, Pervades all, and as He Leads, so do men act.

So Serve you such a Lord, O my mind, who saves you from all your maladies.

O my mind, Contemplate your God, and utter only His Name.

Without your Lord no one can save or slay you: So why are you worrying ?

Raga Ramkali

Beneficent is the Guru, the Great Being, meeting with whom one Enshrines the Lord in his Mind.

The Perfect Guru Blesses us with the Life of the Soul, and one Cherishes the Nectar Name of God.
O Lord, Your Name I Enshrine in my heart, by the Guru’s Grace:

How fortunate am I that the Guru has recited to me the Gospel that pleases my Mind.

Raga Nat Narayana

O my mind, in this Kali age, Contemplation of the Lord’s Name alone is Approved:

Yea, when the Lord is Merciful, we repair to the True Guru and Contemplate our only God.

O God, You are the Highest of the High, Unfathomable, Umperceivable, and every one

Dwell on You, O my Beauteous Lord!, Yea, on whom is cast Your Eye of Grace,

he, by the Guru’s Grace, Dwells only on Thee.

Raga Mali Gaura

All adepts, all seekers and men of silence Contemplate God with Love.

But the Transcendent, Unfathomable Lord is Revealed unto us (only) through the Guru.

We are tied up with low deeds, O’ God, and Cherish You not.

But when You lead us on to the True Guru, we are instantaneously Released.

Raga Maru

Brimful are the Treasures of God’s Devotion.

But, it is through the Guru’s Grace that God Emancipates us,

Yea, on whomsoever is the Mercy of God, he sings the Lord’s Praise.

When we Cherish our God ever in the mind. So you Dwell on Lord’s Name,O my mind,

for, on is Emancipated only through the Lord’s Name.

Raga Tukhari

O lord, Thou art the Life of Life: the Creator-Master of all creation,

And, they alone Dwelt on You on whose forehead was so Writ by You.

Yea he, in whose Lot was Writ thus by You, Contemplated Your Name.

And all his Sins were eradicated in a moment, who Dwelt on You, through the Guru’s Word.

Raga Kedar

Utter the Praises of your God, o my mind:

Yea, Wash and Worship your Guru’s Feet, and so Attain you to your God.

Shed you, your Lust, Wrath, Greed, Ego and the vicious taste of Evil,

and repairing to the Saints, discourse on God, and be Blessed with the Cure-all of Lord’s Name.

Raga Bhairon

O God, all hearts are Your, for, You Abide in all:

Ye, there’s naught that contains You not.

O, my mind, Contemplate your Bliss-giving Lord.

And Praise Him for, He is your only Father, your Master, your God.

Raga Basanta

The day and the night are but the calls (of death).

So Contemplate God, O my mind, that you are saved in the end.

O my mind, cherish ever your Lord. That you are rid of your pain and Lassitude

and attain to God, Singing His Praises through the Guru’s Word.

Raga Sarang

O, I am the Dust tread over by the Saints ! Yea, Associating with the Saints I attained,

unto the Sublime State (of Bliss) and God Filled every pore of my being.

When one Meets with the Guru-Saint, one is Comforted, and one is rid of all Pain, all Sins.

And the Light of the Self burns dazzlingly, and one Sees the Presence of the Immaculate Person.

Raga Kanara

O my mind, Sing the Guru’s Word with relish,

with a myriad tongues a myriad times over.

The Sheshnaga uttered Lord’s Name with its thousand tongues, but found not His End.

O God Unfathomable and Infinite You are, and it is through Guru’s Wisdom my mind is stilled.

Raga Kalyan

The Lord Pervades all: Hearing the Lord’s Name, one’s Mind is in Bloom.

Yea, Nectar-sweet is the Name of God, which one in-drinks all too spontaneously

through the Guru’s Word. As the fire is locked in the wood, but it is struck only by one,

who knows the way. So through the Guru’s Wisdom, one find the Quintessence

of Lord’s Light which Pervades all.

Raga Prabhati

With the sun-break, the God-men utter the Lord’s Name; yea they Cherish His Gospel,

even through the night. Within me is the Craving for my God, and so , I seek Him ever.

Yea, my mind is like the Dust for the Saints to tread upon. The Guru has implanted in me,

the Lord’s Sweet Name; and in utter humility I Dust the Guru’s Feet with my Hair.