siru kampio pag ḍagmage nain joti te hīn.
kahu nānak ih bidhi bhaī taū na hari rasi līn.47.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1428
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.
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In the forty-seventh stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says, in old age, the head has started to tremble, feet have started to totter, and the eyes have begun to lose their sight. Still, the being does not immerse in the Identification with the 1-Light.
The Guru takes us to our physical markers of time passing: the gradual weakening of the body. Our heads tremble — we lose our ability to process, imagine, and examine. Our feet totter — we lose our ability to explore or make an effort. Our eyes lose their sight — we lose our ability to see, contextualize, and read. The Guru says, if this is what has happened to you now, if even at this stage of life you are immersed in the flavors of the material, how can you become engrossed in this new flavor of life: Identification with the 1-Light?
This is not about it being too late or no longer possible. The Guru is saying that this is where we are right now; this is everything we have done; we have gotten to this phase of life and still cannot figure it out. We might focus on pilgrimage and fasting, and charity; we may have been doing these things for so long that our bodies physically cannot take it anymore. We have spent all of our time and energy and money on accumulating the flavors of the body, on accumulating pride. We have done things for our relationships, our families, our jobs, our assets. The Guru reminds us of this after building on two levels of behavior in the earlier stanzas. Now, at this phase, do we have time for the flavor of the 1-Light?
The Guru takes us to our physical markers of time passing: the gradual weakening of the body. Our heads tremble — we lose our ability to process, imagine, and examine. Our feet totter — we lose our ability to explore or make an effort. Our eyes lose their sight — we lose our ability to see, contextualize, and read. The Guru says, if this is what has happened to you now, if even at this stage of life you are immersed in the flavors of the material, how can you become engrossed in this new flavor of life: Identification with the 1-Light?
This is not about it being too late or no longer possible. The Guru is saying that this is where we are right now; this is everything we have done; we have gotten to this phase of life and still cannot figure it out. We might focus on pilgrimage and fasting, and charity; we may have been doing these things for so long that our bodies physically cannot take it anymore. We have spent all of our time and energy and money on accumulating the flavors of the body, on accumulating pride. We have done things for our relationships, our families, our jobs, our assets. The Guru reminds us of this after building on two levels of behavior in the earlier stanzas. Now, at this phase, do we have time for the flavor of the 1-Light?
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