saloku m: 1.
dukhu dārū sukhu rogu bhaiā jā sukhu tāmi na hoī.
tūṁ kartā karṇā mai nāhī jā haü karī na hoī.1.
balihārī kudrati vasiā. terā antu na jāī lakhiā.1. rahāu.
jāti mahi joti joti mahi jātā akal kalā bharpūri rahiā.
tūṁ sacā sāhibu siphati suāl̖iu jini kītī so pāri païā.
kahu nānak karte kīā bātā jo kichu karṇā su kari rahiā.2.
dukhu dārū sukhu rogu bhaiā jā sukhu tāmi na hoī.
tūṁ kartā karṇā mai nāhī jā haü karī na hoī.1.
balihārī kudrati vasiā. terā antu na jāī lakhiā.1. rahāu.
jāti mahi joti joti mahi jātā akal kalā bharpūri rahiā.
tūṁ sacā sāhibu siphati suāl̖iu jini kītī so pāri païā.
kahu nānak karte kīā bātā jo kichu karṇā su kari rahiā.2.
saloku m: 1. |
dukhu dārū sukhu rogu bhaiā jā sukhu tāmi na hoī. |
tūṁ kartā karṇā mai nāhī jā haü karī na hoī.1. |
balihārī kudrati vasiā. terā antu na jāī lakhiā.1. rahāu. |
jāti mahi joti joti mahi jātā akal kalā bharpūri rahiā. |
tūṁ sacā sāhibu siphati suāl̖iu jini kītī so pāri païā. |
kahu nānak karte kīā bātā jo kichu karṇā su kari rahiā.2. |
Guru Nanak starts out this verse by talking about pain. The Guru says that suffering has become the cure, and happiness, or comfort, a disease. This is not about physical suffering, but instead about any of the various spiritual ailments, one might experience — psychological, mental, and emotional suffering. The Guru tells us that suffering from these spiritual ailments can be the cure for the ailments themselves. When there is too much pleasure or sense indulgence, or even just a sense of security and comfort, these things can actually become maladies, because when we are comfortable or when we have been swallowed by those sense indulgences, there is no Longing for connection with 1Force (IkOankar, One Universal Integrative Force, also referred to as 1-Ness). Guru Nanak says this suffering or pain is the cure because it allows us to reflect, it lifts us out of our indulgence and into introspection.
But Guru Nanak does not dwell on the pain. In the next line, the focus is on the infinite Creator or IkOankar. The Guru says, even when we are talking about Your infinitude, the pain must be located in this context. Our pain cannot be the biggest thing in the room. In fact, the Guru acknowledges that our pain is not the biggest thing out there. This is a shift in perspective, a conscious contextualizing and a zooming out, situating all of us not within our suffering, but within all of creation as a whole, within the vastness of 1Force. The Guru addresses this creation’s infinite Creator and says, You are residing in the creation and I adore you. I cannot measure your limits or grasp them. You do everything and I cannot do anything, and when I am in pain, I remember you.
We have all experienced this feeling, even the most religious of us — when we are in desperation or need, we pray to anyone, we make promises to the sky, we feel small and helpless and we remember this nothingness we are a part of. We remember that we are nothing. This is when that feeling of Longing comes back, when we are reminded that our indulgence or comfort is not everything, that there is something else, much bigger than we can even fathom.
Guru Nanak continues addressing 1Force, saying, everything is within You and born out of You, You are all-pervading, You are the eternal One. The Guru then reflexively gets into the higher kind of Longing for connection to this all-pervading eternal One.
If You are the Light, the Dweller in all things, if You are indescribable and transcendental, if You are the creation itself and the songs of Your praise are magnificent, then why is my song something else? Finally, Guru Nanak ends with a series of statements: The mysteries of the Creator are unfathomable, only the Creator knows them. Whatever needs to be done, the Creator continues to do that in accordance with the Will.
But Guru Nanak does not dwell on the pain. In the next line, the focus is on the infinite Creator or IkOankar. The Guru says, even when we are talking about Your infinitude, the pain must be located in this context. Our pain cannot be the biggest thing in the room. In fact, the Guru acknowledges that our pain is not the biggest thing out there. This is a shift in perspective, a conscious contextualizing and a zooming out, situating all of us not within our suffering, but within all of creation as a whole, within the vastness of 1Force. The Guru addresses this creation’s infinite Creator and says, You are residing in the creation and I adore you. I cannot measure your limits or grasp them. You do everything and I cannot do anything, and when I am in pain, I remember you.
We have all experienced this feeling, even the most religious of us — when we are in desperation or need, we pray to anyone, we make promises to the sky, we feel small and helpless and we remember this nothingness we are a part of. We remember that we are nothing. This is when that feeling of Longing comes back, when we are reminded that our indulgence or comfort is not everything, that there is something else, much bigger than we can even fathom.
Guru Nanak continues addressing 1Force, saying, everything is within You and born out of You, You are all-pervading, You are the eternal One. The Guru then reflexively gets into the higher kind of Longing for connection to this all-pervading eternal One.
If You are the Light, the Dweller in all things, if You are indescribable and transcendental, if You are the creation itself and the songs of Your praise are magnificent, then why is my song something else? Finally, Guru Nanak ends with a series of statements: The mysteries of the Creator are unfathomable, only the Creator knows them. Whatever needs to be done, the Creator continues to do that in accordance with the Will.
Suffering has become medicine, and happiness or comfort a disease; in suffering the Creator is remembered.
You are the Creator who is capable of doing everything, I am not. When I try to do something without acknowledging Your all-driving Force, then what I do, doesn't happen.
I adore You, the One Creator pervading the creation! Your limit cannot be known by anyone.
Your conscious power is permeating the entire creation, and the entire creation is in Your consciousness. You are all-pervading as a constant power.
You are the eternal IkOankar and Your praise is magnificent; whoever sang Your praise crossed over the world-ocean.
Nanak’s statement: the mysteries of the Creator are unfathomable; only the Creator, IkOankar, knows them. Whatever needs to be done, IkOankar continues to do that in accordance with the Will.
You are the Creator who is capable of doing everything, I am not. When I try to do something without acknowledging Your all-driving Force, then what I do, doesn't happen.
I adore You, the One Creator pervading the creation! Your limit cannot be known by anyone.
Your conscious power is permeating the entire creation, and the entire creation is in Your consciousness. You are all-pervading as a constant power.
You are the eternal IkOankar and Your praise is magnificent; whoever sang Your praise crossed over the world-ocean.
Nanak’s statement: the mysteries of the Creator are unfathomable; only the Creator, IkOankar, knows them. Whatever needs to be done, IkOankar continues to do that in accordance with the Will.
Suffering has become medicine and comfort the disease, (because) when there is comfort then (Creator’s remembrance is) not there.
You are all-capable Creator, I am not. When I do something (on my own), it does not happen.
I adore! (You, the One) pervading in the creation! Your end cannot be known.
In the creation is (Your) light (and) in (Your) light is the creation; (You) are all-pervading as a constant power.
You are the true Owner, (Your) praise is most beautiful; whoever did (praise, that individual) reached across.
Nanak’s statement: Accounts of the Creator (are unfathomable); whatever is to be done, (the Creator) continues to do that.
You are all-capable Creator, I am not. When I do something (on my own), it does not happen.
I adore! (You, the One) pervading in the creation! Your end cannot be known.
In the creation is (Your) light (and) in (Your) light is the creation; (You) are all-pervading as a constant power.
You are the true Owner, (Your) praise is most beautiful; whoever did (praise, that individual) reached across.
Nanak’s statement: Accounts of the Creator (are unfathomable); whatever is to be done, (the Creator) continues to do that.
In the first line of this salok ‘dukhu’ (suffering) has been depicted as a ‘medicine’ and ‘sukhu’ (happiness/comfort) as ‘disease.’ From a perspective of south-asian poetic theory, this line of the salok becomes a beautiful example of metaphor for considering the subject of comparison (upmey) ‘dukhu’ and ‘sukhu,’ and object of comparison (upmān) ‘dāru’ (medicine/cure) and ‘rogu’ (disease) as one. The second line uses simple linguistic expressions and explains that IkOankar is the capable Creator, before Whom an individual has no power.
The rahāu’s (refrain) line expresses an intense urge for adoring the Creator who is pervading the creation. Through phonological parallelism in line ‘jāti mahi joti joti mahi jātā’ (in the creation is Your light and in Your light is the creation), emphasis has been laid on the idea that IkOankar is the embodiment of light/illumination, and is pervading the entire creation. IkOankar’s light is infused in the entire creation, with IkOankar within these lights. Whoever praises that true Owner, crosses over the world-ocean, which implies that the person becomes liberated, and is freed from the influence of vices and the cycle of birth and death, while merging with IkOankar.
From a poetic perspective, alliteration has been used in the lines ‘tūṁ sacā sāhibu siphati suāl̖iu’ (You are the true Owner and Your praise is most beautiful) and ‘kahu nānak karte kīā bātā jo kichu karṇā su kari rahiā’ (Nanak’s statement: Accounts of the Creator are unfathomable; whatever is to be done, the Creator continues to do that).
Meter convention of both the lines in the first part of this salok is 16+12, which is similar to two liner sarsī chand’ (a verse with 16+11 characters each). The second part of the salok can be considered under the category of pad chand.
The rahāu’s (refrain) line expresses an intense urge for adoring the Creator who is pervading the creation. Through phonological parallelism in line ‘jāti mahi joti joti mahi jātā’ (in the creation is Your light and in Your light is the creation), emphasis has been laid on the idea that IkOankar is the embodiment of light/illumination, and is pervading the entire creation. IkOankar’s light is infused in the entire creation, with IkOankar within these lights. Whoever praises that true Owner, crosses over the world-ocean, which implies that the person becomes liberated, and is freed from the influence of vices and the cycle of birth and death, while merging with IkOankar.
From a poetic perspective, alliteration has been used in the lines ‘tūṁ sacā sāhibu siphati suāl̖iu’ (You are the true Owner and Your praise is most beautiful) and ‘kahu nānak karte kīā bātā jo kichu karṇā su kari rahiā’ (Nanak’s statement: Accounts of the Creator are unfathomable; whatever is to be done, the Creator continues to do that).
Meter convention of both the lines in the first part of this salok is 16+12, which is similar to two liner sarsī chand’ (a verse with 16+11 characters each). The second part of the salok can be considered under the category of pad chand.