basantu mahalā 5 gharu 1 dutuke
ikoaṅkār satigur prasādi.
guru sevaü kari namaskār. āju hamārai maṅgalcār.
āju hamārai mahā anand. cint lathī bheṭe gobind.1.
āju hamārai grihi basant. gun gāe prabh tum̖ beant.1. rahāu.
āju hamārai bane phāg. prabh saṅgī mili khelan lāg.
holī kīnī sant sev. raṅgu lāgā ati lāl dev.2.
manu tanu maülio ati anūp. sūkai nāhī chāv dhūp.
saglī rūtī hariā hoi. sad basant gur mile dev.3.
birakhu jamio hai pārjāt. phūl lage phal ratan bhāṁti.
tripati aghāne hari guṇah gāi. jan nānak hari hari hari dhiāi.4.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1180
In this Sabad, Guru Arjan Sahib uses the allegory of the festive and pleasant Spring season to convey the transformative impact of embracing the Wisdom (Guru) and singing praises of IkOankar (the Divine) in the company of truth-oriented individuals. The heart blossoms like spring, brimming with joy akin to the festivity of Holi. In this joyous state, the mind perpetually blossoms, and happiness and sorrow feel the same.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Basant is a rag (musical mode) often used to invoke festivity and a season of newness, change, and preparation for an eventual and inevitable blooming. Basant is also a season important in folk culture as people bid farewell to the cold winter season and prepare for spring.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! I have sung Your virtues. Guru Arjan Sahib sets this composition in the context of a common practice known to South Asians due to popular culture and tradition — the festival of Holi. The Guru also uses the word Phag, which has been made synonymous with Holi, but which denotes multiple things: the festival of Holi, the playfulness during the time of Holi, the month itself, Springtime, the red colored powder that is thrown, and the songs which are sung on this day. The Guru takes this context, knowing that there is a Holi or Phag being played in the world that we are all witnessing or participating in by throwing colors and throwing water on each other, playing and being festive, enjoying the high of connection with one another. But the purpose of Holi becomes lost in this, and we celebrate things without knowing what they are really about. All of these elements come together in this composition, as the Guru redefines auspiciousness and transcends the traditional festival to show us what a larger Holi looks like. The Guru begins by stating in the first-person voice, I salute the Wisdom (Guru), because today in my heart-home, joyful song is being sung. Today, I have incredible joy. Today, all of my worries are removed, and the Earth-Knower has been met. I am offering myself to that Earth-Knower. The repetition of ‘today’ throughout the composition is important because much of what we do as human beings involves assigning auspiciousness to certain times of the day, week, month, or year. We make all these little rules for ourselves as if that timing matters, and it dictates what we do when or what we think is possible when. We wait for ritually or occasionally appropriate times to seek connection or celebrate connection. We do this in global celebrations around color, music, or festive seasons. Only in those moments do we dissolve otherness and divisions and form a community. But in this context, when we are at this level of feeling and connection with the Wisdom and with IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), we do not fixate on timing or wait for when it is right. We feel these things happening today, regardless of what month it happens to be. The Guru takes a popular cultural festivity, attaches new meaning to it, and transcends it beyond time and space.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! The Guru emphasizes again that this is about today, regardless of the particular day, month, or season. We are aware that this kind of metaphorical spring can happen in the heart-home, this period of celebration and festivity of connection with the One. But we tell ourselves that it can only happen at certain times, after performing certain gestures or partaking in certain rituals, while the Guru shows us that it can happen now. The Guru expands that feeling of connection to any moment, any season or month or day or time when this can happen – when the heart-home is flourishing because we have sung the infinite songs of IkOankar’s virtues. It is through this that we are able to transcend worldly ideas of time and space and what can happen when.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! The Guru says that the heart-home’s atmosphere has become festive like the festive atmosphere of Phag, or Holi. Having gathered with the companions of the One, we start to play Holi. We have made Holi into something else, something more, something vast. We play by serving. We form a community with those who also play by serving the One and the saintly ones. We form a community with those who are companions of the One. It is through this kind of celebration, through this kind of playing, that the deep crimson color of love, the deep crimson color of the Embodiment of light, has been applied to us. Here, the colors we are imbued in are symbolic of this deep love for IkOankar. We are drenched in a deep love of the One, and this is what Holi is for us. This is the time when we are meeting the truth-oriented beings and playing through service, through being dyed in the color of love with the One.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! Because this is the kind of Holi we have been playing, because this is the kind of relationship we are cultivating with the truth-oriented beings and with IkOankar, our minds and bodies have bloomed, and we have become very beautiful. The mind and body radiate beauty, flourishing forth and blooming regardless of happiness or pain. It is in this state that nothing will make us dry or withered, nothing will keep us from blooming, nothing will keep us from being in love, and nothing will keep us from feeling this love. It is in this state that we will not be bereft of love any more – regardless of the experiences with pain or joy that we may have at any given moment. We are in a continuous Spring, green as can be in all seasons. It is now that we have the deep understanding and knowledge that the dearest divine Guru has met us. And it is that understanding that makes us green, forever beautiful, spring-like always.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! After this meeting, if the Wisdom is in our lives, if IkOankar is in our lives, we find that the Parjat tree grows within us. The Parjat tree is also known as the wish-fulfilling tree in Indic culture. The Guru uses this as a symbol of the tree of Nam, or Identification with IkOankar, which grows within those who play this other kind of Holi. We are usually looking for material or relationship wish-granters all the time. We are constantly looking for things and constantly dissatisfied. But those who have taken this journey find that the tree of Nam which fulfills our wishes is now within, as are its colorful fruits and flowers. When Nam takes root in us and flourishes, when we strengthen our connection with the truth-oriented beings and with the Wisdom and with IkOankar, we find that the flowers and fruits of this tree of Nam take their beauty and spread it around within us. We become fragrant and beautiful internally, and then we become fragrant and beautiful externally. We do not look for wish-fulfillers anymore. We only sing the songs of the One – we only sing of the virtues of the 1-Light; we only meditate on the 1-Light or the All-Pervasive. When we are flourishing forth externally, we see our behaviors change. We serve others. We emulate the One. We change the way we consume and the way we give. We are satisfied and satiated, and content. This all happens because we sing the virtuous songs of Hari, the 1-Light, Hari, the All-Pervasive, Hari, the Fear-Eliminator, and remain in contemplation of That One.
The Guru reframes a beloved festival and festive season, understanding that this is one of the few times communities come together and forget the things that divide them, like caste, religion, gender, and creed. The Guru reframes this festival to understand the larger forming of a community we can do with those who are companions of the One, the playing we can do in the form of service, and the love we can dye ourselves in – love of IkOankar. This is a thing that is available to everyone. This is connection and transformation and a constant flourishing available to everyone at any time. Will we sing the auspicious song of the 1-Light’s virtues? Will we become beautiful and fragrant through our celebration? Will we color ourselves with the deep crimson red? How will we play Holi now?
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! I have sung Your virtues. Guru Arjan Sahib sets this composition in the context of a common practice known to South Asians due to popular culture and tradition — the festival of Holi. The Guru also uses the word Phag, which has been made synonymous with Holi, but which denotes multiple things: the festival of Holi, the playfulness during the time of Holi, the month itself, Springtime, the red colored powder that is thrown, and the songs which are sung on this day. The Guru takes this context, knowing that there is a Holi or Phag being played in the world that we are all witnessing or participating in by throwing colors and throwing water on each other, playing and being festive, enjoying the high of connection with one another. But the purpose of Holi becomes lost in this, and we celebrate things without knowing what they are really about. All of these elements come together in this composition, as the Guru redefines auspiciousness and transcends the traditional festival to show us what a larger Holi looks like. The Guru begins by stating in the first-person voice, I salute the Wisdom (Guru), because today in my heart-home, joyful song is being sung. Today, I have incredible joy. Today, all of my worries are removed, and the Earth-Knower has been met. I am offering myself to that Earth-Knower. The repetition of ‘today’ throughout the composition is important because much of what we do as human beings involves assigning auspiciousness to certain times of the day, week, month, or year. We make all these little rules for ourselves as if that timing matters, and it dictates what we do when or what we think is possible when. We wait for ritually or occasionally appropriate times to seek connection or celebrate connection. We do this in global celebrations around color, music, or festive seasons. Only in those moments do we dissolve otherness and divisions and form a community. But in this context, when we are at this level of feeling and connection with the Wisdom and with IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), we do not fixate on timing or wait for when it is right. We feel these things happening today, regardless of what month it happens to be. The Guru takes a popular cultural festivity, attaches new meaning to it, and transcends it beyond time and space.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! The Guru emphasizes again that this is about today, regardless of the particular day, month, or season. We are aware that this kind of metaphorical spring can happen in the heart-home, this period of celebration and festivity of connection with the One. But we tell ourselves that it can only happen at certain times, after performing certain gestures or partaking in certain rituals, while the Guru shows us that it can happen now. The Guru expands that feeling of connection to any moment, any season or month or day or time when this can happen – when the heart-home is flourishing because we have sung the infinite songs of IkOankar’s virtues. It is through this that we are able to transcend worldly ideas of time and space and what can happen when.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! The Guru says that the heart-home’s atmosphere has become festive like the festive atmosphere of Phag, or Holi. Having gathered with the companions of the One, we start to play Holi. We have made Holi into something else, something more, something vast. We play by serving. We form a community with those who also play by serving the One and the saintly ones. We form a community with those who are companions of the One. It is through this kind of celebration, through this kind of playing, that the deep crimson color of love, the deep crimson color of the Embodiment of light, has been applied to us. Here, the colors we are imbued in are symbolic of this deep love for IkOankar. We are drenched in a deep love of the One, and this is what Holi is for us. This is the time when we are meeting the truth-oriented beings and playing through service, through being dyed in the color of love with the One.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! Because this is the kind of Holi we have been playing, because this is the kind of relationship we are cultivating with the truth-oriented beings and with IkOankar, our minds and bodies have bloomed, and we have become very beautiful. The mind and body radiate beauty, flourishing forth and blooming regardless of happiness or pain. It is in this state that nothing will make us dry or withered, nothing will keep us from blooming, nothing will keep us from being in love, and nothing will keep us from feeling this love. It is in this state that we will not be bereft of love any more – regardless of the experiences with pain or joy that we may have at any given moment. We are in a continuous Spring, green as can be in all seasons. It is now that we have the deep understanding and knowledge that the dearest divine Guru has met us. And it is that understanding that makes us green, forever beautiful, spring-like always.
Today in my heart-home is spring, O limitless Prabhu! After this meeting, if the Wisdom is in our lives, if IkOankar is in our lives, we find that the Parjat tree grows within us. The Parjat tree is also known as the wish-fulfilling tree in Indic culture. The Guru uses this as a symbol of the tree of Nam, or Identification with IkOankar, which grows within those who play this other kind of Holi. We are usually looking for material or relationship wish-granters all the time. We are constantly looking for things and constantly dissatisfied. But those who have taken this journey find that the tree of Nam which fulfills our wishes is now within, as are its colorful fruits and flowers. When Nam takes root in us and flourishes, when we strengthen our connection with the truth-oriented beings and with the Wisdom and with IkOankar, we find that the flowers and fruits of this tree of Nam take their beauty and spread it around within us. We become fragrant and beautiful internally, and then we become fragrant and beautiful externally. We do not look for wish-fulfillers anymore. We only sing the songs of the One – we only sing of the virtues of the 1-Light; we only meditate on the 1-Light or the All-Pervasive. When we are flourishing forth externally, we see our behaviors change. We serve others. We emulate the One. We change the way we consume and the way we give. We are satisfied and satiated, and content. This all happens because we sing the virtuous songs of Hari, the 1-Light, Hari, the All-Pervasive, Hari, the Fear-Eliminator, and remain in contemplation of That One.
The Guru reframes a beloved festival and festive season, understanding that this is one of the few times communities come together and forget the things that divide them, like caste, religion, gender, and creed. The Guru reframes this festival to understand the larger forming of a community we can do with those who are companions of the One, the playing we can do in the form of service, and the love we can dye ourselves in – love of IkOankar. This is a thing that is available to everyone. This is connection and transformation and a constant flourishing available to everyone at any time. Will we sing the auspicious song of the 1-Light’s virtues? Will we become beautiful and fragrant through our celebration? Will we color ourselves with the deep crimson red? How will we play Holi now?
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