saloku.
tīni guṇā mahi biāpiā pūran hot na kām.
patit udhāraṇu mani basai nānak chūṭai nām.13.
-Guru Granth Sahib 299
Guru Arjan Sahib states that only Nam (Identification with IkOankar) can resolve the affairs of the being by freeing them from the influence of Maya (attachment to the material and to relationships). 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 thirteenth pauri states that the being under the influence of Maya forgets Nam and continues to wander and suffer. Entering the refuge of IkOankar (the Divine) is the only remedy to escape suffering and pain.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
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In the thirteenth salok (couplet), Guru Arjan says that we are entangled in the three qualities of Maya, or attachment to the material and our worldly relationships. In the existing paradigm of Indic philosophy, the phenomenal world is said to be a manifestation of Maya. Maya’s three qualities are rajo (energy, activity, passion, or ambition; its nature is pain and restlessness), tamo (darkness, ignorance, negativity, or inactivity; its nature is indifference or resistance to action), and sato (knowledge, consciousness, purity, and goodness; its nature is pleasure and happiness). These qualities regulate what people do and what they eat, classify people and food and drink into different categories, and entangle us in a fear-based system that dictates the everyday. The whole world is engrossed in some version of this, whether in the Indic context or other contexts that also classify and regulate our lives. Because we are engrossed in these systems, our tasks are not completed, and our affairs are not resolved. We might get worldly tasks done, but the larger work, the work outside of just the phenomenal world, is not complete. However, the Guru says that the being in whose mind the Emancipator of the fallen dwells, who feels the presence of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), is freed through Nam (Identification with that One). Those who feel this presence and Identify with it are not driven by fear-based paradigms.
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