bhai nāsan durmati haran kali mai hari ko nāmu.
nisi dinu jo nānak bhajai saphal hohi tih kām.20.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1427
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib reminds beings of the purpose of life, which is to remember and reflect on the virtues of IkOankar (the Divine). The saloks describe how life is wasted in the entanglements of familial and material attachments distracting from the purpose of life. They inspire seekers to search for deeper meaning beyond the attachment to family and temporary material things and develop a relationship with IkOankar. These saloks gently nudge seekers to live in awareness of IkOankar and see the entire world from that place of realization.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the twentieth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says, in the Age of Ignorance, the only Destroyer of fear and Remover of negative thinking is Identification with 1-Light. Whoever praises 1-Light night and day, their work becomes resolved.
How do we get rid of fear? In this ignorant age or dark age, the only way to get rid of fear is to kill it through Identification with the 1-Light. How do we get rid of “bad” or negative thinking? The only way to get rid of negative thinking is through Identification with the 1-Light. If we can do this, night and day, we will be able to resolve our tasks in this life.
There is a shift here into a simplification of the previous stanzas, summarizing and revisiting earlier ideas. We have been taken through so many steps; it is easy for us to feel overwhelmed at all of them. The Guru has taken us to the metaphorical mountain top throughout the previous stanzas. Now, the Guru is bringing it back down to the practical things that we can do right now, ways we can change our behaviors now. The Guru returns to the basics to emphasize again that we are capable of this, that we need not worry about all of the steps all at once, that starting with the basics will help us get there.
The Age of Ignorance in classic Indology is a doomed era; we talk about Armageddon and Doomsday in other contexts — there is nothing anyone can do about it. Here, the Guru is urging us not to think that way. This era is not doomed. Fear is not inherently built into it in the same way that we see in classical understandings. The Guru says that even in this age, even now, we can get rid of fear. We can get rid of the bad deeds that we do, the bad things that we think, the things that create negativity, negative understanding, and negative behavior. The Guru urges us to use the senses we have for remembrance and Identification. If we can do that and center ourselves in it, we will not waver even in this age of ignorance.
How do we get rid of fear? In this ignorant age or dark age, the only way to get rid of fear is to kill it through Identification with the 1-Light. How do we get rid of “bad” or negative thinking? The only way to get rid of negative thinking is through Identification with the 1-Light. If we can do this, night and day, we will be able to resolve our tasks in this life.
There is a shift here into a simplification of the previous stanzas, summarizing and revisiting earlier ideas. We have been taken through so many steps; it is easy for us to feel overwhelmed at all of them. The Guru has taken us to the metaphorical mountain top throughout the previous stanzas. Now, the Guru is bringing it back down to the practical things that we can do right now, ways we can change our behaviors now. The Guru returns to the basics to emphasize again that we are capable of this, that we need not worry about all of the steps all at once, that starting with the basics will help us get there.
The Age of Ignorance in classic Indology is a doomed era; we talk about Armageddon and Doomsday in other contexts — there is nothing anyone can do about it. Here, the Guru is urging us not to think that way. This era is not doomed. Fear is not inherently built into it in the same way that we see in classical understandings. The Guru says that even in this age, even now, we can get rid of fear. We can get rid of the bad deeds that we do, the bad things that we think, the things that create negativity, negative understanding, and negative behavior. The Guru urges us to use the senses we have for remembrance and Identification. If we can do that and center ourselves in it, we will not waver even in this age of ignorance.
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