Gurbani Word Of The Day: kaagar

ਕਾਗਰ (kaagar)
Meaning: noun: Paper.
Quote:
ਕਾਗਰ ਨਾਵ ਲਘਹਿ ਕਤ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਬਿ੍ਰਥਾ ਕਥਤ ਹਮ ਤਰਤੇ॥
kaagar naav laňghahi kat saagar   brithaa kathat ham tarte.

How can they cross over the ocean in a paper boat? They meaninglessly proclaim, “We are floating”! – Guru Arjan Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib, 1267
Message: How can we ever cross over the ocean of life successfully with futile efforts like sailing the ocean in a paper boat? Obviously humans fail miserably in their efforts.

And yet they intentionally pretend or delusionally proclaim that they will reach ashore despite being ferried on a paper boat. Be they rich or paupers, those engaged in such means fail and suffer equally.

Gurbani teaches us to make wisdom our boat to carry us across. Let’s seek and understand the boat of this wisdom and embark on a successful journey. Only with these teachings and the virtuous deeds as our oars can we sail across effectively.  All other means are of little value during life’s journey.

Etymology: A form used in the Eastern regions of Indian sub-continent, adapted from Persian kaaghaz (paper).

Notes: It is interesting to note that this word appears in 3 different forms in Gurbani: kaagal, kaagad and kaagar. This also shows that its current form kaagaj or kaagaz was not in use during the Guru-period.

Besides the above kaagar, two other forms used in Gurbani are as follows:

A form used in Multan, southern  Punjab, Pakistan: kaagal

ਲੈ ਭਾਡ਼ ਕਿਰੇ ਵੀਆਹੁ॥ ਕਢ ਕਾਗਲੁ ਦਸੇ ਰਾਹੁ॥
lai bhaaṛ kare veeaah. kaḍh kaagal dase raah.
He takes payment for performing marriages; reading their horoscopes, he shows them the way (though he himself is mentally blind). – Guru Nanak, Guru Granth Sahib, 471

Another form used in Majha, Malwa, and Doaba regions of Punjab, India: kaagad

ਕਾਇਆ ਕਾਗਦੁ ਮਨੁ ਪਰਵਾਣਾ॥
kaaiaa kaagad man parvaaṇaa.
The body is the paper, and the mind is the inscription written upon it.

Summary of the Week:
If we look around us, the different things we encounter or use daily have significant messages to convey and teach us. 

However due to our ignorance, we are unable to comprehend the purpose of our life on this earth and waste most of our life in the pursuit of worldly attachments and obsession with our negative egoistic demands or desires.

It thus becomes difficult for us to practise wisdom and live a Guru-oriented life.

To live a spiritually-oriented life, we need to look into our inner self and dispel negative thinking.

We must fill our mind with positive thoughts, and work towards self-improvement by applying Gurbani teachings in order to achieve a fruitful and worthy existence.

Let’s take Sheikh Farid’s intense love, Bhagat Kabir’s key of divine wisdom and Guru Ram Das’s hand of deliverance and thus construct a powerful boat that will not capsize in the stormy oceans nor sink in the deepest of swamps of life, as we know it.

 

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