vaḍahansu mahalā 4.
deh tejanṛī hari nav raṅgīā rām.
gur giānu gurū hari maṅgīā rām.
giān maṅgī hari kathā caṅgī hari nāmu gati miti jāṇīā.
sabhu janamu saphaliu kīā kartai hari rām nāmi vakhāṇīā.
hari rām nāmu salāhi hari prabh hari bhagati hari jan maṅgīā.
janu kahai nānaku suṇahu santahu hari bhagati govind caṅgīā.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 576
This chant states that this body becomes precious like gold through Wisdom and is ever-newly colored like IkOankar. The mind is reined in. The seeker experiences and enjoys the bliss of the presence of IkOankar.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
This composition is set in the rag or musical mode of Vadahans, which is common to both wedding and death ceremonies. Vadahans is associated with folk traditions. In this composition, Ghoria are the songs of the groom’s side, sung by women from the groom’s family. Vadahans literally means the great swan. The swan is often associated with the self or the being or the spirit within. The Guru Granth Sahib often refers to the difference between being swan-like (calm on the waters) versus being crane-like (full of pretension). This is about our potential to be swan-like and more vastly understanding folk culture. These compositions are about more than the wedding ceremony, more than the folk culture around the groom’s procession on the horse, more than the folk culture of women singing, and the happiness and sadness of this occasion. Guru Ramdas uses this common experience they tell us about the wedding of the being with the larger Being, about the feminine-beings, the seekers, meeting the Divine-Husband. What do we do with this body, and how do we ride this life so that we can wed the divine?
In the first stanza, Guru Ramdas says this mare-like body has become of a new color through the remembrance of the 1-Light. These bodies are valuable gifts through which we can practice remembrance and seek the supreme understanding of the 1-Light from the Wisdom. When we remember IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), when we remember Nam (Identification with IkOankar), we experience a change within. We imbue ourselves in the ever-new color of devotion to IkOankar. In our worldly relationships, we have ideas about young love or the honeymoon phase that all point to a belief that after time passes, love loses its excitement and newness. This love, this devotion to IkOankar, is fresh and new each day. This kind of devotion keeps us perpetually excited and beautiful, perpetually radiant in love.
How do we experience this kind of love? How do we color ourselves in this ever-new devotion? The Guru says we ought to seek the excellent or supreme narrative of IkOankar’s realization. How do we get this narrative? We get it through the Wisdom. If we live in a relationship with the Wisdom; if we practice Remembrance of and Identification with IkOankar, we begin to understand the narrative of the world. We begin to understand its movement and measure. We begin to understand the conditions we are in. We begin to understand how to move and how not to move, the disciplines we ought to commit to, and the things we ought to leave behind. It is through Identification with IkOankar that we sing the praises of the Creator, we live in remembrance of the Creator, and the Creator makes our lives fruitful.
By Remembering IkOankar, Identifying with IkOankar, by Praising IkOankar, the disciples have sought only IkOankar’s devotion because this is the greatest gift for them. The Guru addresses the seekers and says, Listen, virtuous beings! The devotion of IkOankar, the Remover of Suffering, the Knower of creation, is greater than all other practices and deeds. When we have colored ourselves in love and experienced this kind of ever-new devotion, the only thing we think to ask for is the devotion of IkOankar. All other things become irrelevant. Will we pursue this relationship with the One? Will we live in remembrance and experience the love that is perpetually new?
In the first stanza, Guru Ramdas says this mare-like body has become of a new color through the remembrance of the 1-Light. These bodies are valuable gifts through which we can practice remembrance and seek the supreme understanding of the 1-Light from the Wisdom. When we remember IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), when we remember Nam (Identification with IkOankar), we experience a change within. We imbue ourselves in the ever-new color of devotion to IkOankar. In our worldly relationships, we have ideas about young love or the honeymoon phase that all point to a belief that after time passes, love loses its excitement and newness. This love, this devotion to IkOankar, is fresh and new each day. This kind of devotion keeps us perpetually excited and beautiful, perpetually radiant in love.
How do we experience this kind of love? How do we color ourselves in this ever-new devotion? The Guru says we ought to seek the excellent or supreme narrative of IkOankar’s realization. How do we get this narrative? We get it through the Wisdom. If we live in a relationship with the Wisdom; if we practice Remembrance of and Identification with IkOankar, we begin to understand the narrative of the world. We begin to understand its movement and measure. We begin to understand the conditions we are in. We begin to understand how to move and how not to move, the disciplines we ought to commit to, and the things we ought to leave behind. It is through Identification with IkOankar that we sing the praises of the Creator, we live in remembrance of the Creator, and the Creator makes our lives fruitful.
By Remembering IkOankar, Identifying with IkOankar, by Praising IkOankar, the disciples have sought only IkOankar’s devotion because this is the greatest gift for them. The Guru addresses the seekers and says, Listen, virtuous beings! The devotion of IkOankar, the Remover of Suffering, the Knower of creation, is greater than all other practices and deeds. When we have colored ourselves in love and experienced this kind of ever-new devotion, the only thing we think to ask for is the devotion of IkOankar. All other things become irrelevant. Will we pursue this relationship with the One? Will we live in remembrance and experience the love that is perpetually new?
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