WEAVER & WEAVING OF THE BODY

Nine yards, ten yards, and twenty-one yards - weave these into the full piece of cloth;
take the sixty threads and add nine joints to the seventy-two in the weaving (Taanee). ||1||
When the Jeeva-weaver (individual being) forgets the Lord, then Vaasnaas
(mind's evil desires) itself starts weaving of this body. After leaving her body-home, the
Vaasnaa makes the Jeeva-weaver to come back to the body.||1||Pause||... (sggs 335).
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The foregoing Shabad is by Kabeer Sahib. To support himself and his family, he used to weave. In this way, he earned his honest living - Kirat Kamaaee - and shared with others - Vand Shaknaa - or Shakna / Shakanaa etc. - as mandated in the Teaching of Baabaa Nanak. Just imagine, if someone does not earn his honest living, how and what he can share with others?

Anyhow, Pandits (priest class) always looked Kabeer Sahib down because he was a weaver - Julaahaa / Julaha - from the weaving community, instead of belonging to the Pandit (or Brahmin) community. Through this Shabad, he told the hypocrite, ignorant and falsely proud Pandits that they (i. e., we all) are also weavers (Julaahaas) because we all weave our own body! How? With a practical example of the weaving (Taanee) on the loom (Khaddee), Kabeer Sahib in this Shabad explains as to how the Vaasnaa-bound Jeeva (ego or Haume-stricken individual) weaves his own body and comes into this world (Janam), and subsequently becomes extroverted and get caught in the gross objects of the enchanting world (Maya or illusion) during his relatively short stay here. And ultimately dies (Maran) in Vaasnaas again, only to re-weave his body again! The full Shabad is as follows:

Like many other Shabads of Kabeer Sahib, this Shabad is also pretty complex and loaded. Let's try open it and reflect on it verse-by-verse. To liberate ourselves from worldly bondage (or repeated suffering of birth and death), Kabeer Sahib says, we must conquer our bad Vaasnaa while living in the body. To put it in simple words, we are born (Janam) on account of false ego-sense (Haume), and if we die in the same deluded consciousness, then we come back and weave the body again. Thus setting in motion the vicious cycle of repeated suffering.

ਗਜ ਨਵ ਗਜ ਦਸ ਗਜ ਇਕੀਸ ਪੁਰੀਆ ਏਕ ਤਨਾਈ ॥ ਸਾਠ ਸੂਤ ਨਵ ਖੰਡ ਬਹਤਰਿ ਪਾਟੁ ਲਗੋ ਅਧਿਕਾਈ ॥੧॥: Gaj nav gaj das gaj ikees pureeaa ek tanaaee || Saath soot nav khand bahatar paatu lago adhikaaee ||1|| : Nine yards, ten yards, and twenty-one yards - weave these into the full piece of cloth. Take the sixty threads and add nine joints to the seventy-two in the weaving (Taanee). ||1||>>>>Ego (Haume) or Vaasnaas is the seed of the body-mind-intellect apparatus. Talking in terms of weaving a full piece of cloth on the loom, Jeeva's body is made of 40 yards (nine+ten+ twenty-one= 40). Here "nine" represents the nine holes of the body (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, one genital, and one anus). "Ten" represents the number of bodily senses and sense-organs: year, skin, eye, tongue and nose makes five senses of acquiring knowledge (Giaan Indriyas). Similarly, the speech, hands, legs, genital, and anus make five senses of action or work (Karma Indriyas). "Twenty-one" represents principle of temporary material manifestation and includes five gross and five subtle elements (earth, water, fire, air, sky, etc.), ten Praan or life-breaths (Praan, Apaan, Samaan, Wyaan, Udaan, Naag, Kuraam, Krikaal, Dev Dat, and Dhananjah), and one mind. Also, the length of the weave (Taanee) on the loom (Khaddee) is generally 21 yards.

" Sixty threads" represent number of threads on the longer side of the weave. It is said that the human body is consisted of 60 relatively larger arteries (ਨਾੜੀ - Naarhee). The number "nine" represents nine joints of the body (four joints of two arms, four joints of two legs, and one joint of neck=9). The weave on the loom generally has nine joints too (9 Kaane or small sticks inserted in the weave). And "seventy-two" represent the woof on the weave. Also, the total number of relatively smaller arteries in the human body is said to be as many as 72,000. The bodily senses are strung upon these ropes of arteries.

ਗਈ ਬੁਨਾਵਨ ਮਾਹੋ ॥ ਘਰ ਛੋਡਿਐ ਜਾਇ ਜੁਲਾਹੋ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥: Gayee bunaavan maaho || Ghar shodiai jaai julaaho ||1|| rahaaou || When the Jeeva-weaver (individual being) forgets the Lord, then Vaasnaa (mind's evil desires) itself starts weaving of this body. After leaving her body-home, the Vaasnaa makes the Jeeva-weaver to come back to the body. ||1||Pause|| >>>> Here the word "Maaho" indicates Vaasnaas — the mind's evil undigested desires, psychological conditionings, latent memories, innate tendencies, inherent inclinations, self-limitations, dispositions, obstinate clinging to a fancy or deluded imagination, memories or subtle impressions of the past. Vaasnaas produce thoughts, and thoughts produce actions. Whatever we do at the present becomes the memory of the past the very next moment! Hence all Vaasnaas are of the mind. On the other hand, the Pure Self, our True Nature, is simply Being, free of suffering as there is no Vaasnaas in Him. Seen thusly, Jeeva's repeated suffering is not eternal. However, trouble starts when the Self is confounded with the limited body (ego or Haume), resulting in the expression of Vaasnaas through the body-mind-intellect personality. Memory of subtle impressions of one's past actions then turn into mental concepts. As with all mental concepts, frustration and suffering is inevitable. Rise of the false ego-sense is the birth of the body. In other words, false ego-sense is the weaver of the body.

ਗਜੀ ਨ ਮਿਨੀਐ ਤੋਲਿ ਨ ਤੁਲੀਐ ਪਾਚਨੁ ਸੇਰ ਅਢਾਈ ॥ ਜੌ ਕਰਿ ਪਾਚਨੁ ਬੇਗਿ ਨ ਪਾਵੈ ਝਗਰੁ ਕਰੈ ਘਰਹਾਈ ॥੨॥: Gajee na mineeai tol na tuleeai paachan ser adhaaee || Jo kar paachan begi na paavai jhagar karai gharahaaee ||2|| This cloth (of body-weaving) cannot be measured in yards or weighed with weights; its food is two and a half measures. If it does not obtain food right away, it quarrels with the owner of the body. ||2|>>>>This weave of the body is neither measured by yards or weighed with weights (some places in the Gurbani it is said to be 3.5 Mann or approximately about 65 Kilos, and 3.5 cubits or roughly 6 feet or little more). However, daily it needs 2 1/2 Ser food (slightly over one kilogram. Some places in the Gurbani it is said to be 3 Ser). If it does not get that food on time, it gets restless, and complains to let the person to whom the body belongs. Most of us live for food and drinks. Instead of meditating on the Divine, we meditate on the foods and drinks. In other words, instead of living in the world, we allow the world to live in us! In the process, thus, we forget God (Pure Consciousness), and become extrovert or friend with Maya (corruption of the deluded consciousness).

ਦਿਨ ਕੀ ਬੈਠ ਖਸਮ ਕੀ ਬਰਕਸ ਇਹ ਬੇਲਾ ਕਤ ਆਈ ॥ ਛੂਟੇ ਕੂੰਡੇ ਭੀਗੈ ਪੁਰੀਆ ਚਲਿਓ ਜੁਲਾਹੋ ਰੀਸਾਈ ॥੩॥: Din kee baith khasam kee barakas ih belaa kat aaee || Shoote koonde bheegai pureeaa chalio julaaho reesaaee ||3|| How many days will you sit here, in opposition (forgetfulness) to your Lord? When will this opportunity (of human life) come again? Leaving his pots and pans, and the bobbins wet with his tears (i.e., saturated with Vaasnaa), the weaver soul departs in anger. ||3||>>>> The life-span is fleeting — it can end any moment. It's not meant to be permanent. The Gurbani says that we all are born Original — as Unconditioned Consciousness. But, as we come in contact with the material world (Maya), our consciousness becomes conditioned and we turn duplicate or false. As the sensory apparatus of the body is by nature extrovert, we preoccupy ourselves mostly with worldly pursuits and affairs. Consequently, we lose out our True Identity and real meaning and purpose in life. So we die as duplicates; even though we were born Original! "How many days will you sit here, in opposition to your Lord?", asks the Gurbani. Being immersed in evil passions and pleasure seeking, the majority of us in the world do not even get started on the Spiritual adventure. Some others may feel the need for Spiritual Life (Gurmukhataa) but the desire to pursue it is either superficial or totally absent. For example, one may read a scripture or attend a Spiritual event here and there only if he has nothing else to do! Others make the excuse that their time to take on Spiritual journey has not yet come, and that when God will wish they will do it! Yet there are some who make the excuse it's already too late for them, or the path of Spirituality is too difficult for them to tread. "We want to do all that, but now I neither have time nor deep interest for it", they say! The Gurbani and the true Men of Light try to awaken us from this sleep of unenlightened existence. "Don't wait for old age", they roar. For longer we wait, more repeated pain and delusion we will experience. They urge us that everything in one's life can wait, but not the search to know the nature of the Self — "Who am I?". Because this Spiritual-inquiry (Shabad-Vichaar) is the fire in which the very seed and roots of the conditioned mind (false ego, ignorance, impurities, Maya, etc.) are burnt completely. Only then does the Original state ("Joti-svaroop") manifest itself, within. And then Vaasnaa and any further weaving of the body end.

ਛੋਛੀ ਨਲੀ ਤੰਤੁ ਨਹੀ ਨਿਕਸੈ ਨਤਰ ਰਹੀ ਉਰਝਾਈ ॥ ਛੋਡਿ ਪਸਾਰੁ ਈਹਾ ਰਹੁ ਬਪੁਰੀ ਕਹੁ ਕਬੀਰ ਸਮਝਾਈ ॥੪॥੩॥੫੪॥: Shoshhee nalee tant nahee nikasai natar rahee ourajhaaee || Shod pasaar eehaa rahu bapuree kahu Kabeer samajhaaee ||4||3||54||: The wind-pipe is empty now; the thread of the breath does not come out any longer. The thread is tangled; it has run out. Renounce Vaasnaa while you remain here, O poor Jeeva; says Kabeer: you must understand this! ||4||3||54|>>>>So here Kabeer Sahib is trying to awaken us from the perpetual slumber of the corruption of the deluded consciousness. He urges us to renounce our Vaasnaa while we are living. Not after death or some oyher time. It will be too late then, once the thread of the life-breath is snapped. Therefore, freedom from the worldly bondage must be the priority in one's life. That's why the Men of Lights tell us that in life everything can wait, but not the search for God.

— T. Singh
www.gurbani.org

Updated on Thursday, April 18, 2013 3:19 PM (PST)

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