The Inner Mine — Unveiling Paurī 6 of Japji Sahib — Pilgrimage, Karma, and the Guru’s Treasure

Based on Maskeen Ji’s Discourse on Japji Sahib

Introduction

Pauri 6 is short but dense: in five compact lines Guru Nanak moves us from outer ritual (pilgrimage and bathing) to the laws of karma and finally to an inner revelation — the jewels hidden inside the mind revealed by listening to the Guru. Giani Sant Singh Ji Maskeen’s commentary (katha) expands these images: rivers and holy waters, the dust of saints as spiritual collyrium, the clay pot of karma, and the pearl-hunt inside the human being. The aim of this article is to preserve those images, clarify them, and give practical steps for turning ritual into remembrance and outward seeking into inner discovery.

1 — Pilgrimage and Divine pleasure

tīrath nāvā je tis bhāvā viṇ bhāṇe ki nāe karī ||
If pilgrimage and ritual please Him, then they are worthwhile; without His Will, what good are they?

Guru Nanak begins with a testing question: is mere travel to holy sites and ritual bathing sufficient? The answer he implies — and which Maskeen Ji elaborates — is that rites are meaningful only when they lead the heart to please the Divine. A tirath (pilgrimage site) is not merely a physical bank or shrine; in the deepest sense it is any place or practice that helps the mind cross the inner ocean and fix itself on God. If a ritual does not change the heart — if it leaves the inner clutter of attachments, anger, and self-centeredness untouched — then it is spiritually unproductive.

Maskeen Ji stresses two practical lessons here:

1. Quality over quantity. Repetitive action without inward attention is like cleaning only the outside of a pot. The external may be tidy, but the inside remains spoiled.

2. Ritual as vehicle, not goal. Use pilgrimage, collective recitation, and sacraments as support for training the heart. When the ritual is suffused with bhāv (devotional feeling), it opens doors; otherwise it is a form without substance.

Maskeen Ji uses the powerful image of water absorbing vibration: when the Name is chanted over water or when saints recite remembrance beside a river, that water becomes charged. In Sikh practice, stirring sacred water while reciting banis or preparing Amrit is a symbolic enactment of this principle — sound and attention transmute the ordinary. The lesson: keep rituals alive with genuine remembrance.

2 — Creation’s abundance and the measure of karma

jetī siraṭh upāī vekhā viṇ karmā ki milai laī ||
As far as I survey the whole of creation, without actions (karma) nothing is obtained.

This line broadens the view. The world is full of riches — mountains of minerals, oceans of pearls, soils of treasures. Yet what comes to you depends on your actions, your receptivity, your pot (matki). Maskeen Ji draws the metaphor of the earthen pot: however vast the ocean, the pot holds only what it can hold. Karma and inner capacity determine the measure of reception.

Two complementary insights:

• Outward search vs inward readiness. Humanity has discovered astonishing resources by digging mines and trawling seas, but even so, hearts often remain hungry. The outer search can yield goods but not the inner fulfilment that comes from spiritual realization.

• Karma as boundary and amplifier. Karma is not merely punishment or reward; it shapes what one is able to receive. Improve your “pot” through ethical conduct, humility, and discipline so that grace has space to manifest.

Maskeen Ji highlights that people exhaust lifetimes searching externally (for riches, status, knowledge) but rarely turn the same intensity inward. The pauri invites us to balance outer competence with inner cultivation.

3 — The mine inside the mind

mat vic ratan javāhar māṇik je ik gur kī sikh suṇī ||
Within the mind are jewels, gems, and pearls — if one listens to the single teaching of the Guru.

This is the pauri’s crucial revelation: the treasure is within. Maskeen Ji repeats a constant bhakti and Sufi theme — the inner chamber is rich with spiritual gems (patience, contentment, fearlessness, love, bliss). The Guru’s instruction is the method to excavate these inner riches.

Key images Maskeen Ji uses:

• Pearl diver metaphor. On the surface one finds only shells; to reach pearls one must dive deep. The same applies to the mind — surface pursuits yield shells (temporary comforts), but depth yields pearls (steady virtues).

• Many-chambered body. Quoting classic devotional poets, Maskeen Ji reminds us that saints found treasures within the “many-chambered” self by going inward.

What does “listening to the Guru” mean in practice? Not merely hearing words, but absorbing them with depth: repeated, attentive listening (suni), meditating on the Shabad, and applying the teaching. This kind of listening opens inner sight; it reorganizes attention and allows the inner jewels to appear spontaneously.

Practical application: Choose one verse of Gurbani and listen to it daily with focused attention for a week. Note changes in your reactions, patience, and inner clarity. This is the beginning of mining the inner treasure.

4 — The Guru’s singular insight

gurā ik dehi bujhāī ||
The Guru grants one illuminating understanding.

The phrase emphasizes that the Guru’s role is not merely instruction but the awakening of bujh — inner insight or spiritual comprehension. The Guru shows the one fundamental truth behind multiplicity: there is one Source, one Giver, one reality to which all life owes its being.

Maskeen Ji insists the Guru does two things:

1. Method: provides practice (Naam, simran, seva) so that remembrance becomes habitual.
2. Revelation: opens the mind’s eye to perceive the One present in all.

He also frames remembrance as the glue of relationship. All worldly relationships survive through attention and memory. Similarly, the relationship with the Divine survives only as long as it is remembered. The Guru teaches us how to remember effectively.

5 — Never forget the One Giver

sabhnā jīā kā ik dātā so mai visar na jāī ||6||.
That there is one Giver of all life — may I never forget Him.

The pauri closes with a prayer: to never forget the One Giver. This is the practical test of all spiritual activity. Rituals, generosity, study, service — these are all meaningful only insofar as they make us remember the Giver. When remembrance is present, life brightens; when forgotten, darkness (misery and confusion) follows.

Maskeen Ji uses everyday analogies: if a mother forgets her child, the bond dissolves; if you don’t recall a friend, the relationship fades. Similarly, the Divine is always present — nearer than the hand — but without remembrance He feels distant. The Guru’s grace revives that remembrance and keeps the bond alive.

Practical prayer: Cultivate a short, repeatable practice of remembrance (e.g., a single-line simran repeated at waking and before sleep). Let it be the thread that ties all your daily acts into constant remembrance.

Practical exercises (convert rituals into inner means)

To make the pauri inwardly practical, Maskeen Ji’s katha suggests simple but powerful approaches. Below are four exercises you can adopt immediately.

1. The ritual experiment. After a ritual or pilgrimage, sit quietly for five minutes and repeat one line of Gurbani with full attention. Compare how you feel before and after. Use the ritual as a doorway to inner silence.

2. Focused listening. Daily, for seven days, listen once to the same shabad (or read it aloud) with your full attention. No multitasking. Let the words settle; write down any subtle shifts in mood or perspective.

3. Enlarge the pot. Practice humility (seva), patience (sabar), and contentment (santokh) deliberately. These virtues increase your receptivity — your pot becomes larger so grace can fill it.

4. Satsang as collyrium. Spend time in the company of remembering people (satsang). The saintly presence acts like the “dust of the saints’ feet” — it sharpens vision and stokes remembrance.

Integration — living the pauri

Pauri 6 calls for a reorientation: use externals to serve internals; use action to awaken attention; use association to strengthen remembrance. The goal is not withdrawal from life but a re-ordered life where each action becomes a practice of presence.

Guru Nanak’s teaching is practical and compassionate: he does not condemn worldly seeking but invites a re-allocation of energy. Keep your work, your study, and your relationships, but let them be lit by the inner lamp of remembrance the Guru teaches.

Conclusion

Pauri 6 is a compact manual for spiritual pragmatism. It disciplines ritual with a measuring stick — Divine acceptance — explains the limits of outward acquisition through the law of karma and pot-size, and unveils the path to inner riches: listen deeply to the Guru and the jewels within will manifest. Giani Sant Singh Ji Maskeen’s discourse helps us translate these aphorisms into daily practice: charge your rituals with attention, enlarge your receptivity with virtue, and dive deep into the mine of the mind with the Guru’s word as your lamp.