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‘Barah Maha Tukhari’ describes the longing of a seeker to unite with their Origin, and the resulting bliss in that union. It is set against the backdrop of the occurring and changing natural conditions of the twelve months of the Indic and Panjabi calendar. Out of seventeen stanzas, the first four stanzas of the composition shed light on its theme. Stanzas five to sixteen sequentially outline the Guru’s teachings through the twelve months of the year. In the last stanza, the theme is concluded by providing the essence of the entire verse.
barsai ammrit dhār   būnd suhāvaṇī.
sājan mile sahaji subhāi   hari siu prīti baṇī.
hari mandari āvai   prabh bhāvai   dhan ūbhī guṇ sārī.
ghari ghari kantu ravai sohāgaṇi   haü kiu kanti visārī.
unavi ghan chāe barasu subhāe   mani tani premu sukhāvai.
nānak varsai ammrit bāṇī   kari kirpā ghari āvai.4.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1107-1108
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the fourth stanza, we see third-person descriptions of the environment and a kind of celebration happening in the form of rain. This is what can happen when the seeker progressing on this path meets the Dearest Friend. Pleasant droplets of amrit rain down. The word ‘amrit’ literally means beyond death and time. In the context of Guru Granth Sahib, it is used as a synonym for Nam (Identification with IkOankar, or 1Force). The Word of Wisdom (Sabad Guru) is often described as amrit, as it connects one with the Nam. Amrit is also sometimes used as an adjective to describe the sweetness or pleasantness of a thing.

In this description, everything is showered in amrit. The environment itself has become loving. And the one who the seeker has been preparing to meet, walking the path towards, the Dearest Friend (sajan), has been met. The word ‘sajan,’ used here to refer to IkOankar, refers to that Dearest Friend who, when we are around them, we have a certain alertness or attentiveness about how we look or behave. When the beautiful droplets are showering all around, the environment has become receptive for this occasion, or this meeting. The Dearest Friend naturally, in a state of sahaj, comes and meets the seeker. The word ‘sahaj’ refers to a state of Divine love and awareness that is beyond the influence of worldly attachment. When a seeker continuously and consistently implements the teachings of the Wisdom in life, this state of sahaj is reached, and it becomes permanently etched in the consciousness. This is a perpetual state of Divine love and awareness. The seeker has naturally and intrinsically and intuitively developed this deep love and devotion. And when that meeting occurs, the seeker develops even more love for IkOankar, the 1-Light.

When this love is developed for the 1-Light, it is ultimately up to the Beloved to make that meeting happen. Whenever the Beloved likes, the Beloved comes to enter the home-heart of the seeker. And the seeker attentively sings the virtues of the Beloved. The seeker is attentive in the way that we are attentive to our guests who come to our homes. There is a level of alertness that comes not from fear but deep love — remembering the virtues and singing them, regardless of whether the Beloved has arrived in their heart.

The seeker sees that the Beloved is enjoying the connected seekers in every heart. And the seeker, in intimacy, wonders, did the Spouse forget me? Why have I not felt the Spouse come into my heart?

The seeker observes the clouds bent low over the land, heavy with rain. Upon witnessing this, hope comes into the heart. The seeker asks the clouds not to delay for even a second, to rain down in love, rain beautifully, so that their mind and body can feel this comfort in love. Whichever heart and body this rain comes down in, that is where there is Grace, and it is in that environment that the Beloved enters. Physical rain happens for everyone! In hot weather, that rain acts as a kind of physical grace felt by all. But this internal rain that enters the mind and body, this internal bending, that is the rain the seeker is looking for. It is in that Grace, that the Beloved enters naturally and habitually.
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