Listening that Awakens Kingship and Compassion — Japji Sahib (Paurī 11)

Navninder Singh,9/3/2025•7 min read

Based on Maskeen Ji’s Discourse on Japji Sahib

Introduction

Among the most profound teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Japji Sahib is the emphasis on listening (suṇīai). From Pauri 8 through Pauri 11, Guru Nanak devotes four stanzas to show how immense spiritual blessings unfold simply by listening deeply to the Divine Word.

In Pauri 11, the focus shifts toward how listening shapes a person into a treasure of virtues, elevates them to the status of saints and sovereigns, guides even the blind, and grants vast spiritual vision. Giani Sant Singh Ji Maskeen, in his katha, unpacks these lines with remarkable clarity, using metaphors of food, meditation, attention, and kingship.

This article presents the pauri in transliteration with translation, followed by a detailed commentary inspired by Maskeen Ji, expanded with reflections for modern readers.

Food for the Body, Word for the Soul

Maskeen Ji begins with a striking metaphor. Just as food enters the body through the mouth and becomes flesh, bones, blood, and energy, so too does the Guru’s Word—the Divine Name—enter the soul through the ears. Food sustains the body, but the Word sustains the spirit.

If food accidentally reverses from the mouth before entering the stomach, life itself is endangered. Similarly, if the Word fails to enter through listening, spiritual life weakens. The ears are the gateway for divine nourishment.

Food naturally enters and digests, but the Divine Word does not slip in so easily. For this, one needs spiritual discipline, meditation, and focused attention. This is why Guru Nanak again and again highlights suṇīai: the art of listening with awareness.

The Power of Attention

Maskeen Ji emphasizes that listening is not just with the ears. It is, at its core, attention (dhiyān). Where attention goes, energy flows. Our entire life force travels with our attention.

If our attention is absorbed in worldly forms, colors, possessions, or desires, then our energy constantly drains into them. Gradually, we become spiritually empty.
But if our attention rests on the Divine Word, energy multiplies, vitality increases, and inner strength blossoms.

Attention is thus the vehicle of our spiritual journey.

Maskeen Ji gives everyday examples:

A man may walk past his own home without noticing because his eyes saw but his attention wandered.
A person may speak loudly, yet later ask, “What did I just say?” because his attention was elsewhere.

In the same way, countless lips recite Om Om, Ram Ram, Waheguru Waheguru—but without attention, no true listening happens. In a congregation of thousands, only a few truly listen. But those few are transformed, purified, and uplifted.

Listening is attention itself. Without attention, ears alone cannot hear.

The Ocean of Virtues

suṇiai sarā guṇā ke gāh
By listening, one becomes the singer of all virtues.

Virtues are not learned through imitation alone; they are born from transformation within. The one who listens deeply does not simply display a few qualities—he becomes an ocean of virtues.

Maskeen Ji explains: just as the sea cannot be measured, the virtues of such a soul cannot be counted. He is not a pond with a handful of drops but a vast, unmeasurable expanse.

When the Divine Word enters through listening, infinite virtues arise naturally—compassion, humility, forgiveness, generosity, patience, love, wisdom. Such a person does not merely practice virtues occasionally; he becomes a living embodiment of them.

Spiritual Leadership and True Kingship

suṇiai sekh pīr pātisāh
By listening, one becomes as wise as leaders, saints, and kings.

Maskeen Ji explains that in Arabic, sheikh means a leader, a head, or one of high dignity. Pīr means a spiritual guide, a master of inner wisdom. Pātisāh means king, sovereign, ruler.

Through listening, one rises to these dignities—not outwardly but inwardly.

Here, king does not mean someone seated on a throne, ruling lands. In spiritual language, a king is one who is inwardly satisfied, content, free of hunger. Hunger is the root of sorrow. The more desires one has, the more one suffers. The saint is king because he has no hunger left—he is fulfilled.

Guru Nanak thus declares: the one who listens becomes a true sheikh, a true saint, a true sovereign. He rules not over lands, but over himself.

Bhai Gurdas Ji’s Portrait of the Spiritual King

Maskeen Ji brings in Bhai Gurdas Ji’s description of such a king, showing how the devotee who listens rules a divine kingdom:

His throne is not of gold or silver but of truth and self-discipline (jat sat siṅghāsan).
His ministers are contentment and inner stillness (sahaj santokh mantarī).
His flag is the banner of dharma, clothed in patience (dharam dhīraj dhvajā).
His kingdom is eternal, unshakable, never fading (abchal rāj).
His capital city is the realm of inner illumination (shiv nagar).
His queen is compassion (dayā dulhanī).
His treasury is his destiny, his divine portion (bhāg tau bhaṇḍārī).
His food is the sweetness of love (bhāo bhojan).

This is the grandeur of a listener. He rules through love, distributes the nourishment of affection, and builds a kingdom of compassion.

The Politics of Love

Bhai Gurdas Ji further says that the politics (rājnītī) of such a king is simple: the spreading of love.

Every worldly king has policies—of war, diplomacy, trade. But the devotee’s policy is only preet (love). His governance is building relationships through affection. His strength lies not in armies or wealth, but in friendships and bonds of love.

Maskeen Ji adds: the more friends one has, the more heavenly his life; the more enemies, the more hellish. A man living in constant enmity is already burning in hell. The devotee-king, by contrast, spreads love everywhere, making the world itself his paradise.

The Inner Music of Bliss

Within such a listener, says Bhai Gurdas Ji, the anhad dhun (the unstruck celestial sound) resounds continuously. This is not physical music but the inner symphony of the soul, the eternal vibration of existence, heard only in the stillness of deep union.

Thus, the true king is one who lives in the illuminated city of the soul, whose life is crowned with compassion, who rules through love, and whose inner being resounds with the music of God.

suṇiai andhe pāvah rāh
By listening, even the spiritually blind find the path.

One who is blind cannot walk without guidance. He relies on voices, sounds, and instructions to move safely. Likewise, one who is spiritually blind—unable to see the path of Truth—can still be guided by the voice of the Shabad, the sound of the Guru’s Word.

Listening becomes the lamp for the blind. Through it, even the lost find direction, even the ignorant discover wisdom.

Grasp of the Infinite

suṇiai hāth hovai asagāh
By listening, one gains the grasp of the infinite, as though holding the vast oceans in hand.

This is a striking image: the infinite ocean cupped in one’s palm. The listener, through spiritual vision, perceives the vastness of creation and the reality of the Divine. He understands the essence of existence, the mystery of the universe, the truth of the formless One.

The one who listens with attention gains insight that no intellect alone can grasp.

Everlasting Bliss and Freedom from Sin

nānak bhagtā sadā vigās, suṇiai dūkh pāp kā nās
O Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss. By listening, suffering and sins are erased.

As in earlier pauris, Guru Nanak closes with the fruit of listening: constant bliss and freedom from sorrow.

Maskeen Ji explains: sins are not some abstract weight but the very tendency to harm others. To wound with words, to injure with thoughts, to exploit with actions—this is sin. By listening to the Divine Name, this tendency is destroyed.

The listener may endure loss himself but will not cause loss to others. He may accept dishonor but will not dishonor another. And as he refuses to harm others, he too is protected—his honor, peace, and joy remain safe.

Thus, listening dissolves both sins and sorrows, leading to an inner springtime that never ends.

Conclusion: The First Step of Dharma

Pauri 11 continues Guru Nanak’s fourfold meditation on listening. Maskeen Ji notes that Guru Nanak repeats this teaching across multiple pauris to emphasize its centrality. Listening is the first step of dharma.

The degree to which we listen determines the degree of our spiritual progress. The deeper we listen, the more divine qualities arise within us. The more our attention rests on the Word, the more energy and vitality we receive. Step by step, listening leads us toward union with the Divine.

Thus Guru Nanak calls us again: listen deeply. The treasures of virtues, sovereignty of the spirit, vision for the blind, grasp of the infinite, and eternal bliss—all await the one who listens.