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Guru Teghbahadar Sahib explains a fallen mind perpetually engrossed in vices like greed, causing it to wander aimlessly. While searching for comfort by pleasing others, the mind suffers more. Only the praise of IkOankar (the Divine) can provide support in this state. The Sabad gently reminds seekers to relinquish earthly pleasures and engage in the praises of IkOankar.
ikoaṅkār  satigur  prasādi.  
rāgu  āsā    mahalā  9.  
 
birthā  kahaü  kaün  siu  man  kī.  
lobhi  grasio  das    dis  dhāvat  āsā  lāgio  dhan  kī.1.  rahāu.  
sukh  kai  heti    bahutu  dukhu  pāvat     sev  karat  jan  jan  kī.  
duārahi  duāri    suān  jiu  ḍolat     nah  sudh  rām  bhajan  kī.1.  
mānas  janam  akārath  khovat    lāj  na  lok  hasan  kī.  
nānak    hari  jasu  kiu  nahī  gāvat     kumati  bināsai  tan  kī.2.1.233.  
-Guru  Granth  Sahib  411
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
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In this composition, Guru Teghbahadar focuses on the mind, beginning with a rhetorical question: who can I really express the pain of my mind to? Who will understand? And can anything be done about it? 

The mind longs for money and material comfort, and this longing drives it. Its greed drives it. We may think that this is only about those who seek extreme wealth, but it is about all of us. We all spend our time thinking about how to pay the next bill; how to allocate our time; where to put our energy — all in the pursuit of some kind of comfort, or some kind of better standard of living, or some kind of basic survival. However, this is not a condemnation of seeking comfort or thinking about basic needs. This is about what happens when that thinking takes up all of the mind’s time, energy, and space. This is about when the mind is constantly preoccupied with money and how we spend it, and if not money, time and how we spend it. We seek comfort, and we seek wealth by these constant calculations of how to spend our time and energy; we serve bosses and companies and run around in hopes that it will bring us what we seek. And it is that frenzied, greed-driven way of being that desperate attempt to be pleasing others constantly causes the mind pain. It is the constant chase of these comforts that gives us a singular pain: separation. 

We are constantly running around searching for comfort, like a stray dog that wanders from door to door. Just as the tail of a dog cannot be straightened, the mind cannot be straightened out either — this attachment is a thing that is inherently a part of the nature of the mind. And when the mind is consumed in this way, there is no room or time for praise of the Beautiful One. Even subconscious praise cannot happen because our greed so consumes us. That state of being blinds us. It turns us into people without even a sense of shame. 

The Guru says that this attachment of the mind causes bad thinking, and it is that bad thinking that is destroying our bodies. This thinking manifests in the mind as negativity. This thinking manifests in the body as hunger for the material. Our bodies, too, are busy doing and collecting unconsciously and subconsciously because our minds are not awake and not on the right track. The mind cannot correct or steer the body because it is consumed with the longing to accumulate and seek comfort. This is the condition that the Guru identifies with here: the human condition. This human condition consumes both mind and body. To even reflect on the pain of the mind, we must pause. We must understand what we long for and how it drives us and whether there ought to be another kind of longing instead. We cannot figure out in a split second how to deal with the mind. We are all looking for a quick fix to ‘snap out of it,’ but it does not work like that. It is a mental condition that we make excuses for. It is a thing we say we do because we are busy and have to take care of physical needs. But this is a condition we must do something about. It is not enough just to know that it exists. We must pause and reflect and understand that healing the pain of the mind will require a lifestyle or discipline change. 

The root cause of this hunger is material attachment, and the cure is to get rid of our sense of separation from IkOankar through singing praises of the Beautiful One. Even if people are ridiculing us, even if we are drowning in our consumption, going back to singing praises helps us to pause and clear the mind. This praise of the 1-Light is what makes the mind and body great. This is what brings it out in its full capacity. If we are constantly inspired by praise of the 1Force in our minds, our bodies will follow suit. We often say that we understand our habits and how they affect us, but we do not look at what brings those habits into our daily behavior. We try to treat symptoms rather than causes — we order the body to do a whole lot without consoling it and pausing to figure out what it is that our minds ought to do first. 

Where are we spending our time? What are we running after? Are we satiated, or are we always hungry for more? What is it that is ailing the mind, and in turn, ailing the body?
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