asuni āu pirā sādhan jhūri muī.
tā milīai prabh mele dūjai bhāi khuī.
jhūṭhi vigutī tā pir mutī kukah kāh si phule.
āgai ghām pichai ruti jāḍā dekhi calat manu ḍole.
dah disi sākh harī harīāval sahaji pakai so mīṭhā.
nānak asuni milahu piāre satigur bhae basīṭhā.11.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1108-1109
‘Barah Maha Tukhari’ describes the longing of a seeker to unite with their Origin, and the resulting bliss in that union. It is set against the backdrop of the occurring and changing natural conditions of the twelve months of the Indic and Panjabi calendar. Out of seventeen stanzas, the first four stanzas of the composition shed light on its theme. Stanzas five to sixteen sequentially outline the Guru’s teachings through the twelve months of the year. In the last stanza, the theme is concluded by providing the essence of the entire verse.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the eleventh stanza, we enter the post-summer season, Assu (mid-September to mid-October). The longing here is emphasized, as the seeker opens this season with a request to the Beloved: In Assu, come into my home. This is Your home. Without You, without union with You, connection with You, I am gasping and dying in that separation. I am without breath.
In earlier months, there were statements. This month is different. The seeker knows that they can only meet with the Beloved when the Beloved wishes it. The Spouse can only be met when the Spouse wants to meet. And so the question becomes: how can this happen for the seeker who is caught up in duality and thus going astray? When we say to someone, “come here, come over, come next to me,” there is a clear path to a clear place. But what if we are unsure of where that place is? What if we are asking for the Spouse to come, but we are not sure ourselves of where we are? How can we ask the Spouse to come then?
If we are caught up in that other love, the Spouse cannot come and meet us in duality. Because if we are caught up in duality, can we say that we are clear about our invitation? Do we really want that meeting? Maybe it is that sometimes we want it, and sometimes we do not. But we cannot be wavering with our invitations to the Spouse; we cannot be caught up in other things one minute and asking for the Spouse to arrive at our doors the next. And really, that wavering is rooted in our doubts. When we have doubt, we go astray, and we become frustrated. The seeker asks, is it because of that frustration that I am being left alone instead of being met?
In the earlier month Bhadon, the seeker, survived despite their doubts and the pains, their inability to be in union, and the regret that followed. Now, in Assu, the seeker feels that cool breeze again. There is a sweetness to this season because the environment gives the seeker a wave of hope and a greater understanding of what they need. The seeker understands that they are in pain due to duality, and if they are caught up in this other love, they are not in love with the One. And if they are not in love with the One, they cannot invite the One into their home.
It has been many months of seeking. Earlier, there was hot weather, and it was so hard to go through. Now, the cold is coming. The seeker is between these two extreme kinds of weather and reflects on that state. Being in the middle of these two extremes, watching the play of the changing seasons, the mind wavers. The seeker begins to panic and worry, thinking, I survived the heat, but will I survive the cold if I do not even know where I am?
The seeker is older, and when we are older we feel as if we are running out of time. We get anxious, we flip flop, we wonder, do I go this way or that way? We are at peace in a moment and then frustrated or angry in a moment, not sure of what we want because of these extremes. The seeker is in that state of trying to accomplish something and thinking that they don’t have time. They wonder, have I been wanting this enough? Is this all I have been wanting? Is it too late to be Graced? These different goals we have in life might compete with each other. We invite all kinds of people into our lives. Am I talking only to You?
But when the seeker looks around, everything is green — the branches are green, the vegetation is green, greenery is everywhere. This gives the seeker hope — looking at the colors in creation. Physically, when the seasons change, internally, there is a change of mood that helps us develop certain insights. One of the insights which the seeker gains in this season, by watching the flourishing all around, is that union or togetherness doesn’t happen by rushing it. This is well into the year, and they are witnessing some of the vegetation only now starting to become green. They understand that certain fruits ripen slowly and naturally — they just take a bit more time. The same is true of the seeker. That internal ripening and blooming happens internally with ease and love but only after certain effort and after Grace from the Spouse. This is not about rushing; this is about patience and love and naturalness and devotion. The seeker has taken their time, too, and it is seeing these slowly-ripening fruit that gives them patience in their longing — hope in their own longing. In that hope, they are calling out to the Beloved.
Internally, the seeker feels a hunger to meet the Spouse in the same way that the pied cuckoo hungers for that single raindrop that will finally quench its thirst, calling out again and again. While identifying with the voice of the seeker through the metaphor of the human-bride, Guru Nanak is calling out in supplication at the end of this stanza, saying: O Beloved, can You not come to meet me at least in this month?
In life, we can hunger for all sorts of things: status, knowledge, power, material wealth — but the seeker is hungering to meet the Beloved. In that hunger, the eternal Wisdom (Satiguru) becomes very important. The Seeker invokes the eternal Wisdom to act as their vichola. In Indic culture, a vichola is an introducer or intermediary, or lawyer who coordinates the meeting of two families in a marriage or conveys messages between two parties. The seeker asks for the Spouse to come to meet them in this month now that they have had an introduction through the eternal Wisdom. Earlier, there may have been some confusion, but the seeker has understood that what they need is the eternal Wisdom, that the sweet calling for the Beloved is all they want to do. The eternal Wisdom acts as the introducer through time, the eternal Wisdom has an eternal role of introducing seekers to the Spouse, facilitating that meeting, guiding us toward that relationship.
In earlier months, there were statements. This month is different. The seeker knows that they can only meet with the Beloved when the Beloved wishes it. The Spouse can only be met when the Spouse wants to meet. And so the question becomes: how can this happen for the seeker who is caught up in duality and thus going astray? When we say to someone, “come here, come over, come next to me,” there is a clear path to a clear place. But what if we are unsure of where that place is? What if we are asking for the Spouse to come, but we are not sure ourselves of where we are? How can we ask the Spouse to come then?
If we are caught up in that other love, the Spouse cannot come and meet us in duality. Because if we are caught up in duality, can we say that we are clear about our invitation? Do we really want that meeting? Maybe it is that sometimes we want it, and sometimes we do not. But we cannot be wavering with our invitations to the Spouse; we cannot be caught up in other things one minute and asking for the Spouse to arrive at our doors the next. And really, that wavering is rooted in our doubts. When we have doubt, we go astray, and we become frustrated. The seeker asks, is it because of that frustration that I am being left alone instead of being met?
In the earlier month Bhadon, the seeker, survived despite their doubts and the pains, their inability to be in union, and the regret that followed. Now, in Assu, the seeker feels that cool breeze again. There is a sweetness to this season because the environment gives the seeker a wave of hope and a greater understanding of what they need. The seeker understands that they are in pain due to duality, and if they are caught up in this other love, they are not in love with the One. And if they are not in love with the One, they cannot invite the One into their home.
It has been many months of seeking. Earlier, there was hot weather, and it was so hard to go through. Now, the cold is coming. The seeker is between these two extreme kinds of weather and reflects on that state. Being in the middle of these two extremes, watching the play of the changing seasons, the mind wavers. The seeker begins to panic and worry, thinking, I survived the heat, but will I survive the cold if I do not even know where I am?
The seeker is older, and when we are older we feel as if we are running out of time. We get anxious, we flip flop, we wonder, do I go this way or that way? We are at peace in a moment and then frustrated or angry in a moment, not sure of what we want because of these extremes. The seeker is in that state of trying to accomplish something and thinking that they don’t have time. They wonder, have I been wanting this enough? Is this all I have been wanting? Is it too late to be Graced? These different goals we have in life might compete with each other. We invite all kinds of people into our lives. Am I talking only to You?
But when the seeker looks around, everything is green — the branches are green, the vegetation is green, greenery is everywhere. This gives the seeker hope — looking at the colors in creation. Physically, when the seasons change, internally, there is a change of mood that helps us develop certain insights. One of the insights which the seeker gains in this season, by watching the flourishing all around, is that union or togetherness doesn’t happen by rushing it. This is well into the year, and they are witnessing some of the vegetation only now starting to become green. They understand that certain fruits ripen slowly and naturally — they just take a bit more time. The same is true of the seeker. That internal ripening and blooming happens internally with ease and love but only after certain effort and after Grace from the Spouse. This is not about rushing; this is about patience and love and naturalness and devotion. The seeker has taken their time, too, and it is seeing these slowly-ripening fruit that gives them patience in their longing — hope in their own longing. In that hope, they are calling out to the Beloved.
Internally, the seeker feels a hunger to meet the Spouse in the same way that the pied cuckoo hungers for that single raindrop that will finally quench its thirst, calling out again and again. While identifying with the voice of the seeker through the metaphor of the human-bride, Guru Nanak is calling out in supplication at the end of this stanza, saying: O Beloved, can You not come to meet me at least in this month?
In life, we can hunger for all sorts of things: status, knowledge, power, material wealth — but the seeker is hungering to meet the Beloved. In that hunger, the eternal Wisdom (Satiguru) becomes very important. The Seeker invokes the eternal Wisdom to act as their vichola. In Indic culture, a vichola is an introducer or intermediary, or lawyer who coordinates the meeting of two families in a marriage or conveys messages between two parties. The seeker asks for the Spouse to come to meet them in this month now that they have had an introduction through the eternal Wisdom. Earlier, there may have been some confusion, but the seeker has understood that what they need is the eternal Wisdom, that the sweet calling for the Beloved is all they want to do. The eternal Wisdom acts as the introducer through time, the eternal Wisdom has an eternal role of introducing seekers to the Spouse, facilitating that meeting, guiding us toward that relationship.
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