Logo
Guru Arjan Sahib states that by following the Wisdom (Guru), the being can remove their flawed understanding and is liberated from worldly entanglements. 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 twelfth pauri states that the being ought to renounce pride, cleanse themselves by remembering Nam (Identification with IkOankar), and inspire others to remember Nam. Through the remembrance of IkOankar (the Divine), the mind is contented, and its wandering ends.
saloku.
durmati harī sevā karī   bheṭe sādh kripāl.
nānak prabh siu mili rahe   binse sagal janjāl.12.
-Guru Granth Sahib 299
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the twelfth salok (couplet), Guru Arjan says that “bad” thinking or negative understanding was removed when the being engaged in service and met the gracious Sage-Guru, the experiential Wisdom, and the company of virtuous beings. If we engage in service and offer ourselves to the virtuous being who is compassionate and gracious, this is how we can remain with Prabhu. Prabhu is a name that invokes the royal and godlike nature of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), whose nature is to fulfill a particular role of goodness and compassion. This is the One who is capable of helping us when no one else can. We are struggling to extricate ourselves from our own ways of thinking, our own small understandings, and bad thinking that causes us to continue to live in separation. When we do service and begin to form a relationship with the Wisdom, whatever is separating us from the formless IkOankar is eliminated. We are able to feel connected and remain connected with the One who can help us get out of our habits, destroy our entanglements and our separation, and show us a new way of thinking and behaving in the world. This service is not just physically doing things. It is something deeper, in which every act of service is an act of remembrance, humility, and chipping away at our bad thinking to make room for something new.
Tags