ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PA&#7788&#7788&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<i>PA&#7788&#7788&#298</i>, lit. a wooden tablet on which children learn to write the alphabet, is the name given to two hymns, in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, composed in the form of an acrostic, employing letters of the Gurmukh&#299 alphabet. <i>Pa&#7789&#7789&#299</i> by Gur&#363 N&#257nak titled <i>R&#257gu &#256s&#257 Mahal&#257 I Pa&#7789&#7789&#299 Likh&#299</i> comprises thirty-five stanzas, each stanza introduced with a letter of the Gurmukh&#299 alphabet. From stanza nine to thirty-three, the order followed is exactly that of the alphabet current today; elsewhere there are deviations. What was the order prevalent in Gur&#363 N&#257nak's time is, however, uncertain. The main themes touched upon in this composition are the unicity of the Godhead, human ego and <i>karma</i>, the law of causality. God is one. He is the Creator of all that exists. Egocentricity is the cause of man's nescience, of his isolation from the Divine Essence. He who frees himself from ego realizes his true self; he alone can be called a learned one or <i>pa&#7751&#7693it</i> (4). God is all-pervasive. He pervades all the places and dwells in the minds of all (13). Whereas God, who is the Primal Lord, is true and eternal (2), all other beings, though His own creation, are physically transient. Since life is transient, it must not be wasted away and one must seek ever the Lord's protection (14). God is all powerful, and He began his play by making the four ages or time cycles His dice-board and all beings His draughtsmen. He is the Primal Giver, and one must always remember Him and be absorbed in His Name (34). Comfort pervades the hearts of those who remain attached to His feet (15). Man will get peace by serving Him. Serving Him means serving one's fellow beings, for He is in them all (16). If man does not remember and serve God but remains lost in duality, it is the consequence of his own deeds. As one sows so does one reap. Those engaged in singing laudation of the Divine escape the bonds of transmigration. It is through His grace alone that one is so persuaded.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Pa&#7789&#7789&#299</i> by Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s follows Gur&#363 N&#257nak's in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. It comprises eighteen stanzas, besides a couplet titled <i>rah&#257u</i> or pause. Some of the stanzas begin with Gurmukh&#299 letters and some with vowels as well as with compounds from Sanskrit. At the beginning are vowel forms of <i>ayo</i> and <i>a&#7749</i>, the latter expressing nasal sound. Then intervene the consonants <i>k, <u>Kh</u>, <u>gh</u></i> and the nasal <i>&#7749</i>, followed by <i>r&#299r&#299</i> and <i>lal&#299</i>, representing letters of Vedic Sanskrit <i>ri, ri, lri</i> and <i>lri</i>. Next come the <i>rah&#257u</i> or pause lines summing up the central idea : "o my mind, what is the use of such calculations as thou hast learnt ! The debt that thou owest is still on thy head" (GG, 434).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The composition, presenting the teachings of Sikh faith in terms of the <i>karmic</i> theory, revolves around three key words&#8212<i>Jiva, pa&#7751&#7693it</i> and Gur&#363. The individual being, <i>j&#299va</i>, is advised always to remember "the Creator for He alone can save him from Yama, the god of death (2). The tragedy of man, however, is that he remains oblivious of Him and thus wastes his opportunity continuing in the circuit of birth, death and rebirth (4). The learned Pa&#7751&#7693it who teaches the young student how to write on <i>Pa&#7789&#7789&#299</i>, the wooden tablet, is adjured to instruct him not only in the knowledge of the world, for that binds him as well as his pupil (5). Such a Pa&#7751&#7693it is prey to greed (6), ego (7), lust and anger (8). Man engrossed in <i>m&#257y&#257</i> remains caught in the cycle of transmigration, but the realization of God through the grace of the Gur&#363 helps him attain liberation (11). It is man's forgetfulness of God that keeps him tied to the chain of transmigration (12). However, if man submit himself to the Gur&#363, he is exonerated of all his past sins (15) and ultimately gets liberated (18).</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>&#346abad&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Kohli, Surindar Singh, <i>A Critical Study of Adi Granth</i>. Delhi, 1961<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Dharam P&#257l Si&#7749ghal<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>