Hukam – The Divine Law
Hukam, The Divine Law, originates from he Will of the Lord, Bhana. Both are the same thing, but they are different in aspect. At first, one likes a thing. It is then necessary to find the means by which to obtain it. That means is the Shabd, the Sound Current or the Holy Spirit. The element of control or regulation in this process is called Law, and it is universal.
From the Will of the Lord there originated the Lord's Law as the Name, Shabd. This became the Creator of all the universe. In this way, the Law is the connecting link between the Lord's Will and the putting of the Lord's Will into creative action.
Your Law created the worlds of myriad kinds. Your Law is inscrutable; oh infinite, unfathomable Lord!
Suhi Var M3, 786-1
All the universe was created by divine Law and He, as the Creator, is running the universe according to His Law.
His Will directs the world […]
Jap Ji – Stanza 3,
edited by Kirpal Singh, 1894 – 1974
The scriptures describe Him as a witness of all that goes on in the universe but Saints describe Him as the Supreme Lord and the Creator. The Lord is not perishable.
His Law also is true and imperishable.
Oh King, Your Law is true. The Lord is imperishable. He does not come or go.
Vadhans M5, 562-17
Guru Nanak says that everything emanates from the divine Law.
Everything takes place according to this Law, and according to it the admistration of this universe has been placed under the control of the Negative Power or Kal. It is only by knowing the divine Law that one can travel beyond the sphere of Kal. The Lord can do whatever He likes. We human beings have no control over the acts of the Lord.
All are born and act according to Your Law Your Law ordains, and Kal governs us. Your Law ordains and we attune ourselves to You. What You will, happens. We have no say in it.
Sri Rag M1, 55-17
All the universe comes into being and is ultimately destroyed according to the divine Law of the Creator.
The Law creates or destroys millions in a moment. It binds all and releases them from bondage.
Malar Var M1, 1289-3
To bind all and then to release them from bondage is the work of Law. All must obey the Law. The entire process of coming and going is carried out within His Law.
Life and death are within His Law.
Maru M1, 1012-4
Coming and going is carried out according to His Law; it is governed by it in every detail.
Gauri M1, 151-11
His Law determines birth and death; this Law bestows sufferings and enjoyments.
Suhi M5, 760-14
To worship others is unreal like a dream; His Will determines the laws of death and birth.
Asa Var M1, 472-18
Days and nights, dates and days, seasons and months, earth and skies, air, water and fire, all the habitations, worlds, universes and conscious regions are created by the Law. No one can say how vast is the Law or what is its extent. People exhaust themselves by singing its praises and pondering over its meaning and operation.
All the nights, all the days; all the dates, all the days of the week; all the seasons, all the months; all the earth, all the matter; all the seas, all the winds; all the fires, all the underworlds; all the towns, all the lands; all the regions, all the forms; no one can measure the Law; no one can describe its purpose. Many have tried to describe it; many have tried to state its qualities. They simply tired themselves out.
Sarang Var M1, 1241-15
He whom He loves alone submits to the Law.
He builds and He destroys and merges all in Himself in His Will. That alone happens which is Lord's will.
Asa M1, 414-10
What is the Law? To know this is very difficult. We cannot described it in any way. In the Second Stanza of the Jap Ji, it is said:
[…] His Will is beyond description.
It is not a subject for exposition. It can only be experienced by the inner self. But what is happening in accordance with His Law and what can be thought about it has been described in the Second Stanza of the Jap Ji.
All things are manifestations of His Will; but His Will is beyond description. By His Will is matter quickened into life; by His Will is greatness obtained; by His Will some are born high and others low. By His Will are men’s joys and sorrows ordained; by His Will (the pious) obtain Salvation; by His Will (the impious) wander in endless transmigration. All exist under His Will, and nothing stands outside. One attuned with His Will, oh Nanak, is wholly freed from ego.
Jap Ji – Stanza 2,
edited by Kirpal Singh, 1894 – 1974
All the universe of form, whether gross, subtle or causal, has been created by His Law which is indescribable. It is the Shabd or the Name, and it is a manifestation of the Lord.
Oh Nanak! the Name is the Lord. It is explained by the Master.
Sri Rag M1, 72-2
Blessed is he who understands the Law. The True Shabd is its insignia.
Asa M5, 386-2
We can describe nature to a certain extent but can say nothing about its Creator. The natural scientists have discovered many of the laws of nature, but they are nowhere near the end. How can they, then, say anything about its Creator? The laws of nature are not by themselves the Law, but they are governed by the Law. The Law is their basic cause, and it is related to the Lord.
The Law is the Creator. Nature is His creation. Even if we know the creation, how can we through it, know the Creator?
Guru Granth Sahib says that all living creatures were created by His Law. All the sentient and insentient universe was created by His Law. Man gains glory by means of His Law. Exaltations and degradations occur according to His Law. All this is in the hands of the Law Giver. Our pains and pleasures are also arranged for according to His Law. It is according to His Law that many a man is pardoned, while others are sent back into various bodies. The result is that both conscious beings and unconscious matter are governed by the Law, and nothing is outside of it. When all is within His Law, there should be no place left for pride and pride should vanish.
He who understands His Law is freed from his feeling of egotism. The Lord is the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of all. There are, to be sure, forces of nature, but there must be some Capable One driving them all. The seed has, no doubt, the power to grow, but there is always the one who sows, the one who waters, the one who tends the field, and the one who gathers the harvest. It is He who has given seed the power to grow, and the earth and water the power to nourish it. Pain and pleasure, life in higher or lower species, and bestowals from the Lord are all the result of our karmas. It is, however, the Lord who is the law-giver, and the law is written according to our karmas.
He enforces the Law. He enforces it according to our deeds, oh Nanak! He is true. His court and courtiers are also true.
Sarang Var 1M4, 241-4
He whose power upholds the Universe, and establishes everything of its own kind, whose beneficence blesses every one His will becomes our deeds.
Asa M1, 493-15
Oh Nanak, He writes the fate of everything, He writes as He sees.
Asa Var M1, 466-15
In all the regions there is the same Law, and universes are created and destroyed in accordance with it.
One Law prevails in all the regions of the universe. Everything is created in accordance with it.
Gauri M1, 233-7
His Law is Absolute. It cannot be obliterated.
Hear the One. Sing of the One. He is in the heavens. He is in the underworlds. His Law cannot be evaded. Whatever is written is binding.
Maru Var M1, 1091-6
In a battlefield the commander orders the army to advance, and sometimes, to save it from danger, orders it to retreat. He gives orders as the situation demands. But an ordinary soldier does not understand his orders. Those who obey, escape the danger. We cannot know the intentions of any man. How, then, can we understand the Law of the Lord? A man resolves to go west but circumstances compel him to go east, on a journey about which he had never even dreamed. Created works are destroyed in a moment. Deserted lands become populated. All our cleverness proves of no avail.
The Law of the Lord prevails everywhere.
One intends to go west, but the Lord takes him east. The Lord can undo, what is established, in a moment. He then does as He wills. Cleverness is of no avail. Whatever the Lord deems right comes to pass.
Gauri M5, 496-9
We think of various plans, but only that happens which is to happen. Everyone wants his own good but what happens is often not even dreamed of.
We think of various plans; but that happens which is ordained. We all seek the good of ourselves; but that happens which is not in our thoughts.
Bilawal M4, 800-8
What is that power which overrules our unwearied efforts and endeavours? That power is the Divine Law.
The Muslim Saints call it Mushiat-I-Ezdi, God's Direction. Our intellect or even astrology, has no say in it, since it emanates from a centre quite beyond their reach. Who can know it? His Law supersedes all laws. It is verily the command of the Lord.
It is the Cause behind all causes and the Power behind all other powers.
Of all the adepts You are the greatest; of all the actions Yours are the most fruitful. Of all the orders Yours is the supreme One; of all the commands Yours is the Highest.
Gujri M5, 507-18
Our intellect is limited. It cannot understand the Divine Law. His Law has tremendous powers. We have to humbly submit to it. We can never go against it. Before the Will and Law of the Lord we cannot but surrender.
It is useless to struggle against the unfathomable ocean of this world.
Submit to the Will of the Lord; there is no other way. It is of no avail to struggle against it, to cross this abysmal ocean.
From the river of Divine Law there flowed innumerable streams of life.
With one Word of His, this vast creation blossomed into being; and a thousand streams (of Life) sprang into existence […]
Jap Ji – Stanza 16,
edited by Kirpal Singh, 1894 – 1974
If anyone thwarts His Law through self-pride or conceit, he is uprooted by its onward rush and is completely annihilated. Those who always bow before the Law and accept it willingly, understand the power of Its flow and remain happy in following It.
Shed your ego, oh Godman and be at peace knowing His Will. Accept with pleasure all that the Lord does and dwell upon Him in joy and sorrow.
Gauri M5, 209-14
So long as we do not understand His Law, we remain unhappy.
Unless we understand His Law, we remain unhappy.
Asa M5, 400-16
Obedience to His Law leads to eternal happiness. Those who cling to the axle of the mill of His Law, are not ground between Time and Space – the two stones of the mill and they thus escape being ground to bits.
Guru Nanak says that the entire universe is being crushed between these two stones and nothing escapes this crushing. But it is a wonderful fact that those who take refuge at His door escape unscathed:
Between the two mill-stones the grain is ground. Only they escape, Who cling to the mill's axle.
Var Majh M1, 142-19
It is not only difficult to know the Divine Law but it is also difficult to describe or expound it.
Guru Nanak, in the Third Stanza of the Jap Ji, says:
Some sing of His greatness, but only according to the power bestowed upon them; some sing of His bounties, taking them as His signs; some sing of Him as incomprehensible; some sing of Him, as transmitting dust into life, and life into dust again: Creator and Destroyer, the Giver of life and its Withdrawer. Some sing of Him as at once the nearest, and the most remote. There is no end to His description. Countless have tried to describe Him, but He still stands beyond all description. His recipients may tire, but His bounty is untiring; ages upon ages, man has fed upon it. His Will directs the world; and yet, oh Nanak, He dwells beyond concern or care.
Jap Ji – Stanza 3,
edited by Kirpal Singh, 1894 – 1974
Those who claim to expound His Law do not do so correctly. Some talk of His power, but do not have the power to describe it. Others describe His bounties and gifts while still others sing about His attributes. However, who is there who can possibly sing truly of His virtues and bounties? Who can sing of His knowledge and His wisdom? It is difficult even to imagine these things. He moulds bodies out of dust and reduces them again to dust. He takes life away and then restores it. He is so far away and yet is so near. He is omnipresent. Who can describe such a powerful Lord? Man is weak, unwise and imperfect. How can he describe the High, the Wise and the perfect One?
Even if he does so, then it is, as has been said:
You are the King, oh Lord! If I call You King of kings is it any praise for You?
Bilawal M1, 795-4
He is and has been described in millions of different ways. There is no end to it. This subject remains ever fresh.
Philosophers have been arguing about the 'why and how' of God for centuries. But true knowledge of God is still where it was.
The bountiful Lord grants countless boons but the recipients get tired of receiving them. Man has been receiving them for ages, and yet there is no end to them.
He is the Eternal Truth. He exists for ever. His Law is perfect. His commands are immediately carried out.
With one Word of His, this vast creation blossomed into being; and a thousand streams (of Life) sprang into existence […]
Jap Ji – Stanza 16,
edited by Kirpal Singh, 1894 – 1974
The great ordainer is running the universe according to His own Divine Law. Even while doing all this, He is carefree. He is detached and unconcerned. All the universe is being run in accordance with the Divine Law, the knowledge of which we gain from the Master.
Through Him we become acquainted with the known and the unknown principles of His Law and become happy for ever.
After meeting the Master I realized His law. Since then I abide in bliss.
Asa M5, 400-17
The Law of the Lord together with His Name pervade everywhere. Why do we then not see Him? We learn from the happy brides, realized souls, that the curtain of egoism stands between us and the Lord.
Unless we annihilate this ego, we cannot know His Law.
Ask the brides who have eradicated their ego, they love not the Lord's command who love their own selves.
Vadhans M3, 568-4
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