Janam & Nam Sanskar | Birth & Naming Ceremony

Guru Arjan Sahib

The rag (musical mode) this composition is set in is used to evoke a compassionate and thoughtful sense of mortality and awareness of our own temporariness. It is often used to communicate messages about what we ought to do with our lives in awareness of our own deaths. Historically, this composition is related to the day the Guruship was received, and Mata Bhani gave this blessing to her son, Guru Arjan. 

The Guru identifies with the voice of the mother and says, O child, this is the blessing of your mother. May you never forget the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering, even for an instant. May you always remember the Owner of the world. The mother being invoked here can be understood both as the worldly mother and as a symbol of the mother of the world. The mother is physical — the world that carries us before we see the physical world before us. The mother is the one who brought us the connection with the One. Whether we keep it is up to us. In the womb, the mother and the child are inseparable. This is our most intimate physical connection. The mother is also who we speak to when we are discussing things we cannot understand, things we are fascinated by, and seeking out. This is the wish for us from our closest connection, the one who brought us, contained us and nurtured us. The one who is giving this blessing is very aware that they cannot give this to us themselves. They can only hope for it on our behalf. The hope is that we do not forget IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One) for even an instant. The hope is that we always utter and remember the Divine of the world, the Owner of the world. The hope is that we overcome pains through our remembrance of the One who eliminates our pains, sufferings, and fears. That is the One whose realm this is. May we never forget that One for even a split second. 

O child, this is the blessing of your mother. May you never forget the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering, even for an instant. May you always remember the Owner of the world.  Why must we remember the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering? Because through that remembrance, our ultimate sins are destroyed, and our ancestors are freed. Here, the ultimate sin or ultimate poison is that which causes us to fall, which causes us to forget our connection with IkOankar. This is how our minds fall, how we fall physically, mentally, and in character. When we practice remembrance, all of these failings and fallings are destroyed, even those of our ancestors. The Guru is expanding our understanding of lineage and sin. We know that even if we behave positively if a bad reputation exists within our family lineage, that is what people remember. This way of the world causes pain for generations. Remembrance takes us out of that. It frees us of those fallings, apostasies, and crimes which have a generational effect. It is through the remembrance of the One who has no end or limit, who is beyond complete understanding, that this happens. The vastness of the One is made real now in our relationship with the One and in our relationships with other people and with our ancestors. The vastness of the One eliminates the things that feel never-ending and powerful because of how long they affect us. 

O child, this is the blessing of your mother. May you never forget the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering, even for an instant. May you always remember the Owner of the world. The mother’s blessing continues: May the eternal Wisdom be compassionate to us, and may our love be with the saintly beings, the truth-exemplars. May the eternal Wisdom be compassionate with us, and may we receive it with compassion so that our love is not for things or people but for the companionship of the truth-exemplars. Just as we need clothes to cover ourselves, may the best of the Divine, the ultimate and transcendent One, cover our reputation and protect our honor. Just as we physically need food as sustenance, may singing praises of the One become that sustenance for us every day. Our motivation to develop love with IkOankar and a relationship with the One will happen in the companionship of the truth-exemplars. Our protection and the preservation of our honor will happen through the love of the Transcendent One. Our sustenance will become singing and praising and glorifying the One. Our parents can provide us with the things we need on a physical level, but the Guru in the form of the Mother, identifying with the voice of the Mother, is offering a blessing or a hope for something more than just our physical needs being met. 

O child, this is the blessing of your mother. May you never forget the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering, even for an instant. May you always remember the Owner of the world. The Guru says, drink amrit, the immortalizing ambrosial nectar! May you live forever, for a long time. This is how we live forever, through the endless bliss we experience while remembering the 1-Light, the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering. In this remembrance, there is infinite joy. The mother’s wish continues: may remembrance be the color and spectacle of life. Life is full of theatricalities and performances. We constantly want to look the best, present the best, and eat the best. May all of these performances become irrelevant to us. May we instead make remembrance both the color and the spectacle! May it become that all desires are met — that we are able to connect with the Beloved IkOankar. May our worries leave us. May the pain which enters the consciousness not affect us. This is about what we need to drink or imbibe — what we need to be filling ourselves with that will allow us to experience eternal joy. We do this through the Identification with IkOankar. When we Identify with IkOankar, we experience bliss and merrymaking, find the connection we seek, and are unafflicted by anxieties and worries. 
 
O child, this is the blessing of your mother. May you never forget the All-Pervasive, the Fear-Eliminator, the Remover of suffering, even for an instant. May you always remember the Owner of the world. The Guru provides an analogy using what we see in nature to make this real for us. The Guru says, make this mind of yours a bumblebee. May the feet of the 1-Light be the lotus flower. The wish is for us to be attached to those ‘feet,’ to encircle them, to be covered by them, to be attached to them. When a bumblebee enters a lotus flower and drinks its pollen, it is fully protected by the petals and is undisturbed by external influences. The lotus flower becomes a source of sweetness and satiation but also a source of shelter. This is what the sanctuary of the One also gives us. Are we encircling to seek the shelter of IkOankar? The Guru also invokes the pied cuckoo, saying that the devotee remains attached to those lotus-feet and blooms just as the pied cuckoo blooms with a drop of rain. The pied cuckoo is said to wait for a particular drop of rain to experience satiation. The pied cuckoo is patient and longing and waiting for that particular drop. Are we waiting for the immortalizing nectar of Identification with IkOankar? 

The Guru is not just giving us blessings in our pursuit of the ultimate thing, connection with IkOankar. Each stanza also offers guidance on the efforts we ought to make to experience these blessings coming to fruition. What inspires us? What motivates us? Are we reflecting on our life’s purpose, seeking love, connection, and freedom from worry? Are we seeking to be in remembrance? We may be experiencing all kinds of showers and blessings, but are we looking for that particular drop that becomes the nectar for us? Have we made our minds the bumblebee, coming to the sanctuary in humility, submission, and devotion, circling the thing we love waiting for it to open? Are we like the pied cuckoo, patient in our longing? Is our mind clinging to IkOankar the way a child clings to their parent’s legs? Have we cultivated that kind of unconditional devotion? Will we make this effort as long as it takes? Will we rejoice in making this effort?