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Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes the stubborn state of a human mind engrossed in material attachment that neither listens to the teaching nor renounces its flawed understanding. In this fallen state of mind, only the praises of IkOankar (the Divine) can become one’s support. This Sabad encourages seekers to emulate the virtues of IkOankar.
ikoaṅkār  satigur  prasādi.  
rāgu  devgandhārī   mahalā  9.  
 
yah  manu  naik  na  kahio  karai.  
sīkh  sikhāi  rahio  apnī       durmati  te  na  ṭarai.1.  rahāu.  
madi  māiā  kai  bhaïo  bāvaro     hari  jasu  nahi  ucrai.  
kari  parpancu  jagat  kaü  ḍahkai     apno  udaru  bharai.1.  
suān  pūch  jiu  hoi  na  sūdho     kahio  na  kān  dharai.    
kahu  nānak   bhaju  rām  nām  nit       te  kāju  sarai.2.1.  
-Guru  Granth  Sahib  536
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
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The rag (musical mode) that this composition is set in is an ancient one. Guru Teghbahadar uses this ancient musical mode to discuss ancient behaviors and a sort of primordial struggle of the mind. Science tells us that human beings have existed for 300,000 years, while our older relatives, hominids, existed 4.4 million years ago. Overall of that time, overall of those lifetimes and generations of changing and evolving, this primordial struggle has been a constant: the mind does not do even a bit of what is said. The mind does not want to learn. The mind is stubborn. The mind does not do what it is told. The mind likes to think it has its own understanding that is better. It does not shy away from doing things that are not good for it. 

What happens when we are caught up in this phenomenon that none of us is immune from? The mind becomes intoxicated, and it goes into a madness in this intoxication. It does not have time to be aware of the fears it has. It suppresses things instead of confronting them. It causes us to act with greed and act without shame. We find our minds doing this from a young age — we do not want to do our chores, we do not want to clean up after ourselves, we do not want to do our schoolwork, and the more we are told that we ought to be doing something, the less we want to do it. When we are older, the mind is stubborn about other things. We do not want to take care of ourselves physically. We do not want to take care of ourselves mentally and spiritually. Even when we know that doing certain things will positively affect us, we still have a hard time doing them. That stubbornness can spiral into something worse. We spend our time chasing things that will not make us feel better, we steep ourselves in attachment and consumption, we deceive people, we see the world negatively, and we cheat the world to satiate our own hunger. We do this in our lives when we are too “busy” with something that keeps us from dedicating time to what is important. We see politicians do this in their lives when they take money from corporations and private lobbying groups to push for policies that hurt people and the planet but make the rich richer. We see spiritual leaders do this in their lives when they take advantage of their followings. No one is immune to this tendency of the mind. The Guru says it is like the tail of a dog. It cannot be straightened out. Even a mind that is not intoxicated is always in this struggle. And this intoxication branches out into so many manifestations of different symptoms that we do not know how to even begin addressing them. Greed, attachment, addiction, anger, fear, othering — these are all symptoms of an intoxicated mind. 

So what can we do? Guru Teghbahadar says that we ought to live every day in the Remembrance of the Charming Beautiful One, to Identify with the Charming Beautiful One constantly. This praise and Identification is our work. We can Identify with the One in so many different ways — we can Identify through service, through reflection, through meaningful relationships, through singing. This Identification happens in the world; it is not relegated only to particular spaces or particular times. Identification with the One, in whatever way, is the thing that allows us to focus on freeing our minds from their tendencies. This is how the mind is able to listen to what it is being told. This is how we can address the root cause of our various symptoms in behavior and thinking. This is how we address the gravity of the issue of the human condition, of our primordially stubborn minds, and tune them as instruments so that they are not so dissonant. Can we begin to focus on and address our human conditions? Can we learn to listen to that teaching which falls upon our ears? Can we Identify with the Beautiful One who can make our thinking beautiful? Can we let that beautiful thinking make our behavior beautiful? This is the single most important task!
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