gaüṛī mahalā 9.
koū māī bhūlio manu samjhāvai.
bed purān sādh mag suni kari nimakh na hari gun gāvai.1. rahāu.
durlabh deh pāi mānas kī birthā janamu sirāvai.
māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban tā siu ruc upjāvai.1.
antari bāhari sadā saṅgi prabhu tā siu nehu na lāvai.
nānak mukati tāhi tum mānahu jih ghaṭi rāmu samāvai.2.6.
-Guru Granth Sahib 219-220
koū māī bhūlio manu samjhāvai.
bed purān sādh mag suni kari nimakh na hari gun gāvai.1. rahāu.
durlabh deh pāi mānas kī birthā janamu sirāvai.
māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban tā siu ruc upjāvai.1.
antari bāhari sadā saṅgi prabhu tā siu nehu na lāvai.
nānak mukati tāhi tum mānahu jih ghaṭi rāmu samāvai.2.6.
-Guru Granth Sahib 219-220
gaüṛī mahalā 9. |
koū māī bhūlio manu samjhāvai. |
bed purān sādh mag suni kari nimakh na hari gun gāvai.1. rahāu. |
durlabh deh pāi mānas kī birthā janamu sirāvai. |
māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban tā siu ruc upjāvai.1. |
antari bāhari sadā saṅgi prabhu tā siu nehu na lāvai. |
nānak mukati tāhi tum mānahu jih ghaṭi rāmu samāvai.2.6. |
-Guru Granth Sahib 219-220 |
GAURI 6
In the sixth composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. Listening to the way of the Vedas, Puranas, and the sages, it does not sing virtues of the All-Pervasive for even a moment. The Guru identifies with the seeker’s voice and invokes the maternal figure from whom we came, who loves us despite our flaws and missteps. This is the relationship we can invoke when we are in this state of introspection, when we want to bare our flaws and reflect on how we have spent our time, or when we want to ask for help. Here, we are asking for someone, anyone, to come to teach our minds the things it has forgotten, to help us understand. Even after listening to the religious texts and the spiritual beings, our minds are still not contemplating the virtues for even a moment. This is how forgetful the mind is!
O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. Having received the rare opportunity of these human bodies and the lives that are difficult to obtain, we are spending our lives uselessly. The world is a great and perilous forest of attachment to Maya, or attachment to the material and to our relationships, and our minds only cultivate interest with that attachment. We have to make our way through the thickets of Maya, and it is Maya that has come to cause great trouble for all of us.
O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. The companionship of Prabhu is always with us, within us, and around us, but we do not attach our love with that One. The Guru invokes Prabhu as one of the many attributes of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). Prabhu invokes the royal and godlike nature of One, whose job is to fulfill a particular role. This is not about an obligation that IkOankar has to us. It is about the intrinsic goodness present in IkOankar that the Guru is invoking. This is the One who is capable of helping us when no one else can. This is the One under whom even Maya, which has a power of its own, is subject. We may have a hard time ridding ourselves of Maya on our own. But we can go into the sanctuary of the One who has power over even this all-entangling attachment. And yet, we are not attaching our love to that One. The Guru says that we ought to consider the free ones to be those in whose heart the Beautiful dwells. These are the ones whose hearts are drenched in the color of love of the Beautiful and who thus become like the One they love, beautiful through that drenching.
The Guru shows us how to get our minds to come onto the path of freedom, despite being entangled in the attachment of our relationships and the world around us. We are shown how to remedy our forgetfulness and cultivate love and attachment with the One who is above attachment to the material world and relationships. We are shown that those who are truly free are those within whose hearts the Beautiful dwells, who are drenched in love for the Beautiful, and who become like the Beautiful. Will we learn to remember the One? Will we become immersed in love for the One so much that it changes us? Will we learn how to adopt the path of freedom?
In the sixth composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. Listening to the way of the Vedas, Puranas, and the sages, it does not sing virtues of the All-Pervasive for even a moment. The Guru identifies with the seeker’s voice and invokes the maternal figure from whom we came, who loves us despite our flaws and missteps. This is the relationship we can invoke when we are in this state of introspection, when we want to bare our flaws and reflect on how we have spent our time, or when we want to ask for help. Here, we are asking for someone, anyone, to come to teach our minds the things it has forgotten, to help us understand. Even after listening to the religious texts and the spiritual beings, our minds are still not contemplating the virtues for even a moment. This is how forgetful the mind is!
O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. Having received the rare opportunity of these human bodies and the lives that are difficult to obtain, we are spending our lives uselessly. The world is a great and perilous forest of attachment to Maya, or attachment to the material and to our relationships, and our minds only cultivate interest with that attachment. We have to make our way through the thickets of Maya, and it is Maya that has come to cause great trouble for all of us.
O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. The companionship of Prabhu is always with us, within us, and around us, but we do not attach our love with that One. The Guru invokes Prabhu as one of the many attributes of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). Prabhu invokes the royal and godlike nature of One, whose job is to fulfill a particular role. This is not about an obligation that IkOankar has to us. It is about the intrinsic goodness present in IkOankar that the Guru is invoking. This is the One who is capable of helping us when no one else can. This is the One under whom even Maya, which has a power of its own, is subject. We may have a hard time ridding ourselves of Maya on our own. But we can go into the sanctuary of the One who has power over even this all-entangling attachment. And yet, we are not attaching our love to that One. The Guru says that we ought to consider the free ones to be those in whose heart the Beautiful dwells. These are the ones whose hearts are drenched in the color of love of the Beautiful and who thus become like the One they love, beautiful through that drenching.
The Guru shows us how to get our minds to come onto the path of freedom, despite being entangled in the attachment of our relationships and the world around us. We are shown how to remedy our forgetfulness and cultivate love and attachment with the One who is above attachment to the material world and relationships. We are shown that those who are truly free are those within whose hearts the Beautiful dwells, who are drenched in love for the Beautiful, and who become like the Beautiful. Will we learn to remember the One? Will we become immersed in love for the One so much that it changes us? Will we learn how to adopt the path of freedom?
In Rag Gauri, Sabad revealed by Guru Teghbahadar Sahib.
O mother-like companion! I ask that someone living by the teachings of Wisdom (Guru) help my forgetful mind understand.
This forgetful mind does not sing praises of IkOankar even for a moment, even after listening to the way of religious texts and virtuous beings.1. Pause.
Having received the precious human body, it wastes life in vain.
This world is like a painful forest of attachment to material things, but this mind is attached to it.1.
This mind does not develop love for IkOankar, who dwells in everyone and everything.
At the end of the Sabad, by using the signature ‘Nanak,’ Guru Teghbahadar states: Only that being is free of material bondages and vices, in whose heart IkOankar constantly dwells.2.6.
O mother-like companion! I ask that someone living by the teachings of Wisdom (Guru) help my forgetful mind understand.
This forgetful mind does not sing praises of IkOankar even for a moment, even after listening to the way of religious texts and virtuous beings.1. Pause.
Having received the precious human body, it wastes life in vain.
This world is like a painful forest of attachment to material things, but this mind is attached to it.1.
This mind does not develop love for IkOankar, who dwells in everyone and everything.
At the end of the Sabad, by using the signature ‘Nanak,’ Guru Teghbahadar states: Only that being is free of material bondages and vices, in whose heart IkOankar constantly dwells.2.6.
(Rag) Gauri, Ninth Embodiment.
O mother! May someone make (my) forgetful mind understand.
Listening to the way of Vedas, Puranas, (and) the sages, (it) does not sing virtues of Hari (even) for a blink of an eye.1. rahau.
Having received the difficult to obtain human body, (it) is spending (its) birth uselessly.
(The world) is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya, (it) cultivates interest with that.1.
Inside-outside, Prabhu is always along, (but it) does not attach love with That.
Nanak (signature)! You consider liberation of that (being), in whose heart Ram dwells.2.6.
O mother! May someone make (my) forgetful mind understand.
Listening to the way of Vedas, Puranas, (and) the sages, (it) does not sing virtues of Hari (even) for a blink of an eye.1. rahau.
Having received the difficult to obtain human body, (it) is spending (its) birth uselessly.
(The world) is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya, (it) cultivates interest with that.1.
Inside-outside, Prabhu is always along, (but it) does not attach love with That.
Nanak (signature)! You consider liberation of that (being), in whose heart Ram dwells.2.6.
This Sabad employs natural linguistic expression. Through accessible language, it has been stated: O mother! Someone make my forgetful mind understand. By listening to the way of Vedas, Puranas, and the sages, it does not sing virtues of IkOankar even for a blink of an eye. It has received this difficult-to-obtain human body, but it spends this life in vain. The world is a great perilous forest of attachment to material things; the mind develops an interest in it. It does not develop love for IkOankar, who is always along inside and outside. Consider that being liberated, in whose heart IkOankar dwells.
This entire Sabad beautifully employs the commonly used Braj language of that period and its popular proverbial phrases. For example, ‘bhūlio manu samjhāvai’ (make my forgetful mind understand), ‘suni kari’ (listening to), ‘birthā janamu sirāvai’ (spends this birth uselessly), ‘tā siu’ (with that) ‘ruc upjāvai’ (cultivates interest), ‘nehu na lāvai’ (does not attach love), ‘tāhi tum mānahu’ (you consider that), and ‘samāvai’ (dwells).
In the first line, ‘bhūlio manu’ (forgetful mind) is a symbolic statement that points to the mind, which has forgotten IkOankar, and is engrossed in material attachment.
In the second line, the phrase ‘bed purān sādh mag suni kari’ (listening to Vedas, Puranas, and way of the sages) is also a symbolic statement that points to different religious texts, and the teachings of virtuous beings. In the same line, the word ‘nimakh’ (instant) is used very creatively. The literal meaning of the word ‘nimakh’ is the time taken for a blink of an eye. Here, it is used to express a short moment (an instant).
In the third line, the use of the adjective ‘durlabh’ (rare) for the human body is also very creative, which affirms the importance of human birth.
In the fourth line, a metaphor has appeared in the phrase ‘māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban’ (the world is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya). Here, ‘sansāru’ (world) is the subject of comparison (upmey), and ‘māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban’ (the world is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya) is the object of comparison (upman). Considering these both as one, it has been stated that the world is a forest that is filled with the troubles of material attachment. The word ‘sansāru’ (world) has not appeared in this phrase; this situation is called disappearing of the subject of comparison.
In the fifth line, antagonistic lexical parallelism has appeared in the phrase ‘antari bāhari’ (inside-outside), through which the all-pervasiveness of IkOankar is affirmed.
In the sixth line, ‘ghat’ (heart) is used as a symbolic word, which means ‘body or heart.’ The word ‘ghat’ literally means pitcher or pot. In the traditional Indic philosophy, the human body or heart is compared with a pitcher or pot.
This Sabad contains six lines. The meter of these lines is as follows: first (21), second (16+12), third (16+12), fourth (16+12), fifth (16+12), and sixth (16+12). This meter is similar to the verse form known as ‘pad’ in Indic poetics.
This entire Sabad beautifully employs the commonly used Braj language of that period and its popular proverbial phrases. For example, ‘bhūlio manu samjhāvai’ (make my forgetful mind understand), ‘suni kari’ (listening to), ‘birthā janamu sirāvai’ (spends this birth uselessly), ‘tā siu’ (with that) ‘ruc upjāvai’ (cultivates interest), ‘nehu na lāvai’ (does not attach love), ‘tāhi tum mānahu’ (you consider that), and ‘samāvai’ (dwells).
In the first line, ‘bhūlio manu’ (forgetful mind) is a symbolic statement that points to the mind, which has forgotten IkOankar, and is engrossed in material attachment.
In the second line, the phrase ‘bed purān sādh mag suni kari’ (listening to Vedas, Puranas, and way of the sages) is also a symbolic statement that points to different religious texts, and the teachings of virtuous beings. In the same line, the word ‘nimakh’ (instant) is used very creatively. The literal meaning of the word ‘nimakh’ is the time taken for a blink of an eye. Here, it is used to express a short moment (an instant).
In the third line, the use of the adjective ‘durlabh’ (rare) for the human body is also very creative, which affirms the importance of human birth.
In the fourth line, a metaphor has appeared in the phrase ‘māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban’ (the world is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya). Here, ‘sansāru’ (world) is the subject of comparison (upmey), and ‘māiā moh mahā saṅkaṭ ban’ (the world is a great perilous forest of attachment to Maya) is the object of comparison (upman). Considering these both as one, it has been stated that the world is a forest that is filled with the troubles of material attachment. The word ‘sansāru’ (world) has not appeared in this phrase; this situation is called disappearing of the subject of comparison.
In the fifth line, antagonistic lexical parallelism has appeared in the phrase ‘antari bāhari’ (inside-outside), through which the all-pervasiveness of IkOankar is affirmed.
In the sixth line, ‘ghat’ (heart) is used as a symbolic word, which means ‘body or heart.’ The word ‘ghat’ literally means pitcher or pot. In the traditional Indic philosophy, the human body or heart is compared with a pitcher or pot.
This Sabad contains six lines. The meter of these lines is as follows: first (21), second (16+12), third (16+12), fourth (16+12), fifth (16+12), and sixth (16+12). This meter is similar to the verse form known as ‘pad’ in Indic poetics.