mahalā 2.
ihu jagu sacai kī hai koṭhaṛī sace kā vici vāsu.
ikn̖ā hukami samāi lae ikn̖ā hukme kare viṇāsu.
ikn̖ā bhāṇai kaḍhi lae ikn̖ā māiā vici nivāsu.
ev bhi ākhi na jāpaī ji kisai āṇe rāsi.
nānak gurmukhi jāṇīai jā kaü āpi kare pargāsu.3.
This pauri (stanza), revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib, is accompanied by three saloks. The first salok, comprising twelve lines, states that the entire creation and its parts are created by the eternal IkOankar (the Divine). All of creation is a manifestation of the eternal IkOankar. The second salok contains nine lines and reflects upon the greatness of IkOankar. In the third salok, comprising five lines, the world is described as the abode of IkOankar. IkOankar administers the creations according to the command of IkOankar. Only those on whom the One showers grace through Wisdom (Guru) can understand this mystery. This pauri reaffirms that the deeds of human beings are judged based on truth, and so, the meaningfulness of human existence lies solely in the practice of living truthfully.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Guru Angad elaborates and comments on Guru Nanak’s two verses, bringing it from the more theoretical into the practical day-to-day lives of human beings. Guru Angad refers to the world as a small house, that in the vastness we were introduced to before, even the entire earth is just a small blue dot. But, Guru Angad says, even in this small blue dot, on this tiny rock moving in circles in the infinite, even in our little house of a world, truth, or eternality, lives.
Despite feeling small in our individual lives when we bear witness to the vastness around us, we also tend to believe that the 1Force resides only in the world we know, here on Earth. Guru Angad challenges this idea and presents a worldview borne out of the 1Force paradigm. Truth lives here in its capacity as the One that lives in all places. Our minds are limited in viewing and understanding the completeness of the Eternal, and so day to day we easily slip into thinking that the One is somehow tethered to the earth and to human beings and the world they experience. Guru Angad reminds us that the infinite Eternal is pervading the vastness.
And from our limited views, we might think we understand the rules and systems that govern the things around us, but we cannot understand all of the things — rules and systems, characters and behaviors — that govern the universe. Guru Angad explains that some beings are within the Command, and some are destroyed, some are taken out of duality, some are left to sit in it. But even with this explanation, we cannot know or understand the full picture until the Wisdom enters our consciousness. Until then, we are just playing the game of life, dealing with immediacy, unable to look past the things that are right in front of us. By becoming Wisdom-oriented, the full picture comes into focus, and we find that even from this small place, even from all indications of our smallness, we are a part of something much larger. We are part of the Eternal.
Despite feeling small in our individual lives when we bear witness to the vastness around us, we also tend to believe that the 1Force resides only in the world we know, here on Earth. Guru Angad challenges this idea and presents a worldview borne out of the 1Force paradigm. Truth lives here in its capacity as the One that lives in all places. Our minds are limited in viewing and understanding the completeness of the Eternal, and so day to day we easily slip into thinking that the One is somehow tethered to the earth and to human beings and the world they experience. Guru Angad reminds us that the infinite Eternal is pervading the vastness.
And from our limited views, we might think we understand the rules and systems that govern the things around us, but we cannot understand all of the things — rules and systems, characters and behaviors — that govern the universe. Guru Angad explains that some beings are within the Command, and some are destroyed, some are taken out of duality, some are left to sit in it. But even with this explanation, we cannot know or understand the full picture until the Wisdom enters our consciousness. Until then, we are just playing the game of life, dealing with immediacy, unable to look past the things that are right in front of us. By becoming Wisdom-oriented, the full picture comes into focus, and we find that even from this small place, even from all indications of our smallness, we are a part of something much larger. We are part of the Eternal.
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