Gurbani Word Of The Day: Begam Puraa

Theme for the Week:
In one of our previous sets, we featured words relating to the names of places or towns mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib: awordathought.com/kartaar–pur/. Such words are called toponyms, from Greek topos (place) + onoma (name).

Those were real historical places founded and developed by our Gurus. Let us take you this week on a tour of ‘Cities in the Plane of Spirituality’. These are figurative abodes we might have imagined at some point in time. Let’s explore the meaning and mystery of these words and places as mentioned in Gurbani.

Gurbani suggests we should not live in mere imagination or idealism. Why not try and find such a place here and now? Open to anyone of any race, religion or creed, there is indeed a gentle path to a blissful state.

Let’s discover it.

ਬੇਗਮ ਪੁਰਾ (begam puraa)
Meaning: noun: The city without sorrow.

Quote:
ਬੇਗਮ ਪੁਰਾ ਸਹਰ ਕੋ ਨਾਉ॥ ਦੂਖੁ ਅੰਦੋਹੁ ਨਹੀ ਤਿਹਿ ਠਾਉ॥
begam puraa sahar ko naau. dookh aňdoh nahee tih ṭhaau.
‘The city without sorrow’ is the name of the town (where I dwell). There is no suffering or anxiety there. – Bhagat Ravidas, Guru Granth Sahib, 345

Message: Imagine a place where there is neither sorrow, misery, worry, fear nor any burden of paying taxes. Neither is there any danger of committing transgressions nor any fear of loss in business. It is a very pleasant place where there is always peace and calm.

Bhagat Ravidas, a tanner by profession, ‘lives’ in this town. This is the blissful state of his mind, which he figuratively compares to an abode in a faraway place and wishes to establish it here in this world or society.

Instead of dreaming about a heaven in the life hereafter, why not meditate on the Divine – emulate divine qualities and attributes that will result in blissfulness in this life and in this world itself?

Etymology: Compound of be-gam from Arabic/Persian be-gham(without sorrow or anxiety), and puraa (town, city), from Prakrit puraa, from Sanskrit pur.