m: 1.
nānak gurū na cetanī mani āpaṇai sucet.
chuṭe til būāṛ jiu suññe andari khet.
khetai andari chuṭiā kahu nānak saü nāh.
phalīahi phulīahi bapuṛe bhī tan vici suāh.3.
This pauri (stanza), revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib, is accompanied by three saloks; the first two contain two lines each. After an invocation to the Guru, the first two saloks emphasize the importance of the Guru. The third salok, comprising four lines, clarifies that while individuals may appear wise, intelligent, and thriving from a worldly perspective, they are valueless without the Wisdom (Guru). Without the wisdom of the Guru, human life remains unilluminated and without worth. The pauri explains that the formless One, IkOankar (the Divine), first created Ownself and Nam (Identification with IkOankar), then created the creation, and is pervading within it.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Guru Nanak continues to stress the importance of the Wisdom in human life. Individuals without the Wisdom, despite being seemingly wise, successful, and accomplished from a worldly perspective and standard, stay spiritually fruitless (without virtues) within. The message here is largely about the pretenses of “religious” people or those who think they have all the answers but who do not have wisdom in their consciousness. In our day to day lives, it is easy to fall into a sense of self-importance, pointing to all of the things we have had success in as justification for our own arrogance, but without the Wisdom, our lives cannot truly be enlightened or be fruitful. We may look like the sesame plant that is flourishing — we may blossom and flourish outwardly in the ways we have deemed to be signifiers of success in this world. But within, we have dried out and become ash, left abandoned in an empty field, at the mercy of hundreds of masters, slaves to the many negative worldly tendencies, and used by those who take advantage of us.
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