soraṭhi mahalā 9.
māī mai kihi bidhi lakhaü gusāī.
mahā moh agiāni timari mo manu rahio urjhāī.1. rahāu.
sagal janam bharam hī bharam khoio nah asthiru mati pāī.
bikhiāsakat rahio nis bāsur nah chūṭī adhmāī.1.
sādhsaṅgu kabhū nahī kīnā nah kīrati prabh gāī.
jan nānak mai nāhi koū gunu rākhi lehu sarnāī.2.6.
-Guru Granth Sahib 632
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes a being entangled in worldly attachment and ignorance. This ignorance is an obstacle for beings wandering in delusion trying to connect to IkOankar (the Divine).
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the sixth composition, Guru Teghbahadar invokes the maternal figure, saying, O Mother! By which method should I recognize the Master of the earth? In the darkness of ignorance, in great attachment, my mind is being entangled. The Guru is showing us how to ask for help in our time of need, to be brave in our asking, and to be fearless in our vulnerability. We tend not to reveal ourselves in this way because we are constantly worried about judgment, conditional love, and relationships. What if it changes the way people view us? What if it changes the way people treat us? The Guru 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. This question is how we are to know the Master or the Sovereign of the earth, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). How can we recognize the One who dwells within us like a reflection in a mirror? We logically know that the presence of the One is perpetual within, but how do we sense it and feel it and experience it? Our minds have been caught in utter darkness and entangled in attachment. This is how we admit that we do not understand the way, that we are too entangled in our own conditions to see a solution. This is how we ask for help.
O Mother! With which method should I recognize the Master of the earth? The Guru continues showing us how to reflect on the things that are difficult to admit. We have lost our entire lives in illusion and illusion alone. We have wasted our time and the gift of these lives. We have not been able to reach a point of steadiness, of steady intellect. We have been wandering and caught up in Maya, or attachment to material and relationships. We are entangled constantly, and our baseness is not removed. The lowest versions of ourselves, the parts that we are unwilling to acknowledge sometimes, are still with us and still coming out in our behaviors.
O Mother! With which method should I recognize the Master of the earth? The Guru continues with the reflection. We are so engrossed in Maya that we did not join the company of the virtuous or saintly ones. We never really sought out that company. We never sang praises of Prabhu, we never inculcated the virtues of the One, and we do not feel that we have any virtue within us. The Guru invokes Prabhu as one of the many names of IkOankar that invokes the royal and godlike nature of the 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 (attachment to the material and relationships), which has its own power, is subject.
We may have a hard time ridding ourselves of Maya on our own. But it is after admitting the ways we have fallen short, reflecting on the dark age or the ignorance age of our lives, we can ask Prabhu for help, that we can seek protection in the sanctuary of the One. Even if we are unable to feel the presence of the One, even if we have not done the things that we know will help us feel that presence, we can always ask for help. Will we take that step?
O Mother! With which method should I recognize the Master of the earth? The Guru continues showing us how to reflect on the things that are difficult to admit. We have lost our entire lives in illusion and illusion alone. We have wasted our time and the gift of these lives. We have not been able to reach a point of steadiness, of steady intellect. We have been wandering and caught up in Maya, or attachment to material and relationships. We are entangled constantly, and our baseness is not removed. The lowest versions of ourselves, the parts that we are unwilling to acknowledge sometimes, are still with us and still coming out in our behaviors.
O Mother! With which method should I recognize the Master of the earth? The Guru continues with the reflection. We are so engrossed in Maya that we did not join the company of the virtuous or saintly ones. We never really sought out that company. We never sang praises of Prabhu, we never inculcated the virtues of the One, and we do not feel that we have any virtue within us. The Guru invokes Prabhu as one of the many names of IkOankar that invokes the royal and godlike nature of the 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 (attachment to the material and relationships), which has its own power, is subject.
We may have a hard time ridding ourselves of Maya on our own. But it is after admitting the ways we have fallen short, reflecting on the dark age or the ignorance age of our lives, we can ask Prabhu for help, that we can seek protection in the sanctuary of the One. Even if we are unable to feel the presence of the One, even if we have not done the things that we know will help us feel that presence, we can always ask for help. Will we take that step?
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