nisi dinu māiā kārane prānī ḍolat nīt.
koṭan mahi nānak koū nārāinu jih cīti.24.
-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 twenty-fourth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says, night and day, the being wanders for the sake of entanglement. Among the millions, only a rare one has the steady One in their consciousness.
The Guru says that if we do not wake up from this dream, if we do not see the bigger picture and practice remembrance, we will wander and waver day and night, caught up in entanglements, affected by all things, driven this way and that by our emotions and our circumstances. It is only a rare person who is able to come out of it, who has internalized the presence of Narayan — the primal all-pervading One, who is also identified as being steady on water — in their consciousness. Narayan is unchangeable, eternal, sitting beyond the trinity of classical Hinduism. Narayan is the abode of steadiness to swim across the world-ocean, where the freed ones go to rest. When we have Narayan in our consciousness, the waves of the world that used to cause us to waver and shake and be unsteady are finally withstood.
What lives in our consciousness? If it is entanglement, we are filled with that which deceives us. Entanglement is an incredible intoxication and it lives in our brains. If we have been intoxicated with it we cannot see anything else. We know what it means to be addicted to something — it is painful to come out of it, but we must, because that addiction leads to eventual death. So how do we stop our wandering and come out of the intoxication of entanglement? We bring the steady One into our consciousness, and this is what frees us. Love with the Divine is the greatest intoxication because it frees us from clinging to the negative intoxication of entanglement.
When the steady One enters the consciousness, we no longer have to rely only on ourselves. We are no longer supported only by ourselves. Instead, we are able to lean on Divine support. This is how we are able to become free -- by transcending i-ness and sense of self and moving into a sense of the larger Self. That is the Self that supports us, steady and vast.
The Guru says that if we do not wake up from this dream, if we do not see the bigger picture and practice remembrance, we will wander and waver day and night, caught up in entanglements, affected by all things, driven this way and that by our emotions and our circumstances. It is only a rare person who is able to come out of it, who has internalized the presence of Narayan — the primal all-pervading One, who is also identified as being steady on water — in their consciousness. Narayan is unchangeable, eternal, sitting beyond the trinity of classical Hinduism. Narayan is the abode of steadiness to swim across the world-ocean, where the freed ones go to rest. When we have Narayan in our consciousness, the waves of the world that used to cause us to waver and shake and be unsteady are finally withstood.
What lives in our consciousness? If it is entanglement, we are filled with that which deceives us. Entanglement is an incredible intoxication and it lives in our brains. If we have been intoxicated with it we cannot see anything else. We know what it means to be addicted to something — it is painful to come out of it, but we must, because that addiction leads to eventual death. So how do we stop our wandering and come out of the intoxication of entanglement? We bring the steady One into our consciousness, and this is what frees us. Love with the Divine is the greatest intoxication because it frees us from clinging to the negative intoxication of entanglement.
When the steady One enters the consciousness, we no longer have to rely only on ourselves. We are no longer supported only by ourselves. Instead, we are able to lean on Divine support. This is how we are able to become free -- by transcending i-ness and sense of self and moving into a sense of the larger Self. That is the Self that supports us, steady and vast.
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