thitī gaüṛī mahalā 5.
saloku.
ikoaṅkār satigur prasādi.
jali thali mahīali pūriā suāmī sirjanhāru.
anik bhāṁti hoi pasariā nānak ekaṅkāru.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 296
Guru Arjan Sahib depicts the all-pervasiveness of IkOankar (the Divine), the Creator of creation. Corresponding to the fifteen-day lunar calendar and each pauri (stanza) correlates to each day formed by the waxing and waning of the moon. The first pauri advises the being to abandon superstition and contemplate the virtues of IkOankar constantly. Only by taking the refuge of and singing the praises of IkOankar, can the being be liberated and content.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
It is important to understand the cultural context of Gauri Thiti. Thit means a date or fortnight, depending on its part of speech. This composition is set in the paradigm of moon-based calendars and the practice of astrologers and fortune tellers, and others using that calendar to dictate which particular days one ought to do some things or ought not to do other things. This practice is still quite prevalent in South Asia and globally and dictates the strategy of lenders, spiritualists, and politicians. This paradigm results in a calculative game that has entered people’s psyches so much that they will or will not do certain things in specific spaces or times. The rag or musical mode of Gauri is one which encourages the listener to strive even harder to achieve a particular objective without making one arrogant or self-important. The aim is stability rather than the gamification of things. It encourages focusing on the harder things that do not build one’s sense of individualism or worldly accomplishment. It is a kind of stable, peaceful, and lasting accomplishment.
In the first salok (couplet), the Guru says that IkOankar, the Owner, the Creator, is pervading in the water, the land, and the earth. Whatever we see, whatever spaces we are in, those spaces are complete with the One, who has one form, who has spread out and pervaded all things by becoming many forms, by being manifested in many forms. The Guru uses the word Suami to refer to IkOankar, which literally means ‘Master,’ but it is also interpreted as Owner. This is not a relationship of positionality or fear, which would not allow for closeness. This is a relationship of reverence, deep love, and the freedom to relinquish one’s submission rather than have it taken. Suami invokes a deeply intimate and personal relationship with the One. So even the one who is Vast as the Creator, as the Owner, as the One form pervading all spaces, is near to us, accessible to us, and able to be in an intimate relationship with us.
In the first salok (couplet), the Guru says that IkOankar, the Owner, the Creator, is pervading in the water, the land, and the earth. Whatever we see, whatever spaces we are in, those spaces are complete with the One, who has one form, who has spread out and pervaded all things by becoming many forms, by being manifested in many forms. The Guru uses the word Suami to refer to IkOankar, which literally means ‘Master,’ but it is also interpreted as Owner. This is not a relationship of positionality or fear, which would not allow for closeness. This is a relationship of reverence, deep love, and the freedom to relinquish one’s submission rather than have it taken. Suami invokes a deeply intimate and personal relationship with the One. So even the one who is Vast as the Creator, as the Owner, as the One form pervading all spaces, is near to us, accessible to us, and able to be in an intimate relationship with us.
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