jihi māiā mamtā tajī sabh te bhaïo udāsu.
kahu nānak sunu re manā tih ghaṭi braham nivāsu.18.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1427
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib reminds beings of the purpose of life, which is to remember and reflect on the virtues of IkOankar (the Divine). The saloks describe how life is wasted in the entanglements of familial and material attachments distracting from the purpose of life. They inspire seekers to search for deeper meaning beyond the attachment to family and temporary material things and develop a relationship with IkOankar. These saloks gently nudge seekers to live in awareness of IkOankar and see the entire world from that place of realization.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the eighteenth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says, the one who has renounced possessiveness of material attachment, who is detached from all, the Divine dwells in their heart.
If we have been able to rid ourselves of the poisons of this world, if we have adopted the attitude of renunciation, if we have become detached from all things, then we understand that within our hearts and bodies, the Divine comes and lives. Not only will we become free, insightful, and fortunate, the Divine will come and live within us. In earlier stanzas, we were urged to realize the presence of the 1-Light dwelling within. Now, the Guru shows us that we can reach a state where the Divine comes to dwell with us permanently. That presence will not go anywhere. We might be living our lives with glimpses here and there — maybe some days we feel more connected to the presence, maybe some days we practice remembrance, and maybe some days we do not. The pain we feel in the world is in the engrossment of attachment. When we get rid of it, we feel comfort. But that attachment lives in the mind, and until the mind is able to rid itself of attachment to poison and the desire for attachment, there will not be this permanent detachment. The desire for attachment is much harder to get rid of than the attachment itself because that desire can come in a tiny little blink of a moment. And until we have rid ourselves of even the desire for attachment, we will continue to have glimpses of the One and moments when we are without that glimpse.
This is a state of being that moves beyond those glimpses. This is a state where we settle in with the Spouse, the Divine, even within this human life and all of the ways it tugs at us. This is a state that looks like the existence of the lotus. The lotus sits on top of the water, connected but untouched by the filth that exists not far beneath the surface. This state is not about leaving the world; it is about being unaffected by those things which drag us away from our purpose: remembrance. This state is a blossoming of the lotus within.
If we have been able to rid ourselves of the poisons of this world, if we have adopted the attitude of renunciation, if we have become detached from all things, then we understand that within our hearts and bodies, the Divine comes and lives. Not only will we become free, insightful, and fortunate, the Divine will come and live within us. In earlier stanzas, we were urged to realize the presence of the 1-Light dwelling within. Now, the Guru shows us that we can reach a state where the Divine comes to dwell with us permanently. That presence will not go anywhere. We might be living our lives with glimpses here and there — maybe some days we feel more connected to the presence, maybe some days we practice remembrance, and maybe some days we do not. The pain we feel in the world is in the engrossment of attachment. When we get rid of it, we feel comfort. But that attachment lives in the mind, and until the mind is able to rid itself of attachment to poison and the desire for attachment, there will not be this permanent detachment. The desire for attachment is much harder to get rid of than the attachment itself because that desire can come in a tiny little blink of a moment. And until we have rid ourselves of even the desire for attachment, we will continue to have glimpses of the One and moments when we are without that glimpse.
This is a state of being that moves beyond those glimpses. This is a state where we settle in with the Spouse, the Divine, even within this human life and all of the ways it tugs at us. This is a state that looks like the existence of the lotus. The lotus sits on top of the water, connected but untouched by the filth that exists not far beneath the surface. This state is not about leaving the world; it is about being unaffected by those things which drag us away from our purpose: remembrance. This state is a blossoming of the lotus within.
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