mahalā 2.
je saü candā ugavahi sūraj caṛahi hajār.
ete cānaṇ hodiāṁ gur binu ghor andhār.2.
This pauri (stanza), revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib, is accompanied by three saloks; the first two contain two lines each. After an invocation to the Guru, the first two saloks emphasize the importance of the Guru. The third salok, comprising four lines, clarifies that while individuals may appear wise, intelligent, and thriving from a worldly perspective, they are valueless without the Wisdom (Guru). Without the wisdom of the Guru, human life remains unilluminated and without worth. The pauri explains that the formless One, IkOankar (the Divine), first created Ownself and Nam (Identification with IkOankar), then created the creation, and is pervading within it.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Guru Angad uses the metaphor of sunlight and moonlight to highlight the significance of the Wisdom in all of our lives. In much literature and in many cultures around the world, the moon and sun are put in opposition to one another, representing anything from femininity and masculinity to darkness and light to competing sources of knowledge. This metaphor is about moving beyond those dichotomies. Guru Angad uses these sources of light, the sun and the moon that we see each day, as metaphors for other sources of knowledge that exist all around us. For Guru Angad, this is coming from personal experience. Guru Angad had other knowledge (religious and spiritual), and experiences with many other “suns and moons” or sources of knowledge, be they people or scriptures. But none of these sources of illumination provided Guru Angad with a transformation. Transformation can only happen through the Wisdom. The Wisdom came via Guru Nanak. Guru Angad compares other sources of knowledge to the Wisdom and shows them to be incomplete. Despite the existence of countless external sources of light — even if hundreds of moons and thousands of suns arose in the same sky — the darkness of ignorance cannot be removed from the human mind. No matter how many external sources of illumination we turn to, no matter how much we think we can make it through this life on our own, our lives can only be transformed through the Light of the Wisdom. It is through the Wisdom’s guidance that we can transform from ordinary human beings in utter darkness into beings who, through elevated conduct, have become like the One.
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